NCJ Number
226557
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 54 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2009 Pages: 359-364
Date Published
March 2009
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on a process observed by one of the authors in which a clandestine heroin chemist performed a new method for the production of heroin in a controlled setting; upon completion of the procedure, the product was retained for analysis by the authors’ laboratory (Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Testing and Research Laboratory).
Abstract
The clandestine chemist produced heroin from crude morphine by using a solution of sodium hypochlorite. Numerous chlorinated opium alkaloid derivatives were created when the morphine acetylating reaction was quenched and neutralized with a solution of sodium hypochlorite and ammonium hydroxide. Four of these compounds--1-chloroheroin, 1-chloroacetylcodeine, 1-chloro-O6-monoacetylmorphine, and 2’-chloropapaverine--were characterized by means of preparative isolation, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and independent synthesis. These chlorinated derivatives were formed by means of electrophilic aromatic substitution with free chlorine during the illicit process. This paper presents analytical data for these compounds and five additional uncharacterized chlorinated opium derivatives in order to assist forensic chemists who may encounter these compounds in seized heroin exhibits, although no illicit heroin exhibits that contain these compounds have been found in seizures to date. 3 tables, 6 figures, and 13 references