Ruben Vrolijk

MSc. research associate DIMS, Trimbos Institute | Utrecht (NL)

Lecture:
Using FT-IR for Drug Checking in the Netherlands: A reflection of two years working experience.

The Drug Information and Monitoring System (DIMS) has been monitoring the Dutch drug market since 1992, employing techniques like GC-MS and LC-DAD for sample analysis. DIMS is funded by the Dutch government and therefore has to keep to a budget, meaning only a limited number of samples per week can be analyzed by these relatively costly methods. Of the 11.962 samples provided to the DIMS in 2017, finances allowed only 6.428 to be tested via GC-MS/LC-DAD analysis. For the remainder of the samples, DIMS has been developing alternative, more cost-efficient, methods of sample analysis. One example of this is FT-IR analysis, an infrared spectrometry method employed by DIMS since 2016. The results of the past year show the value of FT-IR as a complimentary method to standard laboratory tests, as 1.265 were reliably determined and semi-quantified by FT-IR without need for further analysis. However, The past years have also showcased the limitations of techniques like FT-IR for drug checking as the methods struggles with limits of detection and complex mixtures. Here we present our findings of two years working with FT-IR analysis.