narcotics are the analgesic agents that reduce the sensation. On the basis of there origin, narcotics are classified into three major groups. They can be analyzed with the help of HPLC-MS system.

1. CLASSIFICATION AND
ANALYSIS OF
NARCOTICS
Presented by:
Name: JUNAID AHMAD
Roll no. 0843-MSc-18
Govt. College University, Lahore

2. WHAT ARE NARCOTICS:
The term “NARCOTIC” is derived from the Greek word “NARCOTICOS” which
implies as the state of lethargy (a state of sleepiness or deep unresponsiveness
and inactivity).
Narcotics are the drugs that have analgesic effects, depress the central nervous
system and tend to promote sleep.
Narcotics are used to patient with terminal cancer, myocardial infarction,
gangrene, burns, fractures, post-surgical trauma, and as obstetric analgesia.

3. ADVERSE REACTION OF NARCOTICS:
• Depress the respiratory system
• Nausea and vomiting
• Constipation
• Urinary retention
• Mental clouding
• Histamine reaction
• CNS depression can causes coma sometimes death
• Overdose can causes the physical dependency

4. WITHDRAWAL REACTION:
• Mydriais
• Lacrimation
• Perspiration
• High blood pressure
• Restlessness
• Twitching tumor (uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain)
• Delirium (disturbance in mental abilities)
• seizures

5. NARCOTICS ARE NATURAL OPIOIDS:
Opioids are a class of drugs naturally found in the opium poppy plant and that
work in the brain to produce a variety of effects, including the relief of pain with
many of these drugs.
Narcotics are natural opioid which are obtained from the dried latex of opium
poppy plant.
White milky liquid is shown in the diagram which is
Latex of opium poppy is a natural source of
narcotics.

6. CLASSIFICATION OF NARCOTICS:
According to origin the narcotics are classified into three groups:
1. Natural derivatives of opium
2. Partially synthetic drugs derived from morphine
3. The synthetic chemical that resembles in chemical structure with morphine.

7. NATURAL DERIVATIVES OF OPIUM:
Natural derivatives of opium are alkaloid drugs. Alkaloids are a huge group of
naturally occurring organic compounds which contain nitrogen atom or atoms (amino
or amide in some cases) in their structures. These nitrogen atoms are usually situated
in some ring (cyclic) system. The main natural occurring derivatives of opium are:
1. CODEINE:
It is an alkaloid phenanthrene. It is an analgesic,
antitussive, and antidiarrheal.
MF: C18H21NO3, MW: 299.4g/mol
2. MORPHINE:
It is also an alkaloid phenanthrene with strong
analgesic action.
MF: C17H19NO3, MW: 285.34 g/mol

8. PARTIALLY SYNTHETIC DRUGS DERIVED
FROM MORPHINE:
Morphine is naturally extracted from the opium latex. From morphine different
other kinds of drugs are synthesized which are given below:
1. Oxycodone:
It is also an alkaloid drug which is
synthesized from morphine by hofmann rearrangement. It
causes the same effect like morphine but it is 50% more reactive
than morphine. MF: C18H21NO4
2. Heroin:
It is a semisynthetic product obtained by
acetylation of morphine, which occurs as a natural product in
opium. Heroine is 30 times more reactive than morphine . MF
C21H23NO5

9. 3. HYDROMORPHONE:
Hydromorphone is hydrogenated ketone form of the
morphine. It can be synthesized by rearrangement of
morphine in the acidic medium in the presence of platinum
as a catalyst. It is 80 times more reactive w.r.t morphine.
MF C17H19NO3
4. Oxymorphone:
It can be prepared from the solution of morphine and codeine.
By dissolving these drugs into the ethanol solution in the
presence of alloy of platinum. Oxymorphone is 50 times more
reactive than morphine. MF C17H19NO4

10. THE SYNTHETIC CHEMICAL THAT
RESEMBLES IN CHEMICAL STRUCTURE WITH
MORPHINE:
In this group that narcotics are present which are synthesized in the laboratory,
these narcotics are not extracted from the plants but they show some kind of
resemblances with morphine. These drugs are given below:
1. Fentanyl:
It is a lipophilic phenylpiperidine. It can be prepared from N-
benzyl-4-piperidone by reacting it with phenethyl bromide
to give N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP) which is then
converted to fentanyl. It is 80 times least reactive
than morphine.
MF C22H28N2O

11. 2. LEVORPHANOL:
It is a synthetic drug which can be prepared in the organic
laboratory. Levorphanol is synthesized starting from cyclohexanone
by its condensation with cyanoacetic acid. It mimics like
morphine.
MF C17H23NO.
3. Meperidine:
Meperidine is a synthetic piperidine ester. Meperidine can be
produced in a two-step synthesis. The first step is reaction of
benzyl cyanide and chlormethine in the presence of sodium amide
to form a piperidine ring. The nitrile is then converted to an ester.
MF C15H21NO2

12. 4. METHADONE:
Methadone is synthesized from Diphenylacetonitrile, which is produced
through friedel- crafts-alkylation.
MF C21H27NO
5. Propoxyphene:
Propoxyphene is the d-isomer of synthetic diphenyl propionate
derivative propoxyphene.
MF C22H29NO2

13. ANALYSIS OF NARCOTICS:
Many techniques are used in the analysis of narcotics in the field of analytical
chemistry. The best techniques which are used are gas-chromatography mass
spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Now a days optical chemical imaging (OCI) technique is used in the forensic lab
for the analysis of narcotics.
Before the use of these technique preliminary tests are performed in which
presumptive color test is basic for the drug analysis.

14. PRELIMINARY TEST OF ALKALOIDS:
Before the analysis, some tests for the identification of alkaloid is performed
which are given below:
TEST NAME REAGENT PRESENT RESULT
Dragendorff’s test Potassium bismuth iodide
solution
orange red ppt.
Mayer’s test Potassium mercuric iodide
solution
White ppt.

15. PRELIMINARY TEST FOR NARCOTICS:
COLOR TEST OF DIFFERENT COMPOUNDS ARE GIVEN BELOW:
TEST NAME REAGENT PRESENT RESULTS COMPOUND
Marquis reagent
test
Solution of formalin
and H2SO4
Violet color,
Reddish,
Dark violet,
pale violet,
brown
Morphine, heroin,
Codeine,
oxycodone,
meperidine
Nitric acid test 71% w/w HNO3 Orange,
yellow, green
Morphine, Heroin,
codeine
Eosin Y test Eosin disodium salt Pink,
purple
hydromorphone
fentanyl

16. ANALYSIS WITH HPLC-MS SYSTEM:
The reverse-phase HPLC is used in the analysis in which the polar mobile phase
and the non-polar stationary phase is used.
A mixture of narcotics drug were studied in the HPLC-MS system. The condition
which were set shown in the table below:
PARAMETERS CONDITIONS
Column C-18
Isocratic mobile phase Methanol: ethanol: acetonitrile (1:1:1)
detection system Mass spectrometer
flow rate 1.0mL/min
temperature Room temp.
Retention time 6 minutes
Injection volume 100 micron liter

17. THE SPECTRUM OF MIXTURE:

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