ELSEVIER Forensic Science Intemation~ 70 (1995) 93-104 Forensic Science Capillary electrop~oresis: a new tool in forensic toxicology. Applications and prospects in hair analysis for illicit drugs F. Tagliaro*‘, W.F. Smythb, S. Turrinaa, 2. Deylc, M. Marigoa Qstitute of lkensic Medicine. University of Vermra,37134 Verona, Ittdy bDepartment of Applkd Physical Sciences, University of Ulster, Colemine, Northern Ireland. UK ‘Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic R&&xi 3 May 1994;accepted 24 May 1994 Capillary electrophoresis, the modern approach to instrumental electrophoresis, is prob- ably the most rapidly expanding analytical t~hnique that has appeared in recent years. In the hands of forensic toxicologists, capillary electrophoresis (CE) represents a powerful new anal- ytical tool, which has proved suitable for the investigation of illicit drugs in seized prepara- tions and also in complex biological matrices, among which is hair. CE can be applied according to different separation mechanisms, and among those that are toxicologically rele- vant are capillary zone el~~ophor~is and micellar eiectrokinetic capillary c~o~to~phy, which display different selectivities. For the investigation of hair for drugs of abuse,capillary electrophoresis proved effective, providing simultaneous determinations of different drugs without derivatixation, with acceptable sensitivity (typically better than 1 ng of drug per mg of hair). The possibility of carrying out determinations of the same analytes, based on dif- ferent separation mechanisms (capillary zone electrophoresis and micellar eleetrokinetic chro- matography) with the same ins~en~tion, simply changing the buffer composition, provides an interesting possibility of ‘internal’ contirmation of the results. Keywords: Capillary electrophoresis; CE; CZE; MEKC, Illicit drugs; Hair analysis 1. Introduction Capillary electrophoresis (CE), the modem approach to instrumental elec- trophoresis, is probably the most rapidly expanding analytical technique to have ap- * Corresponding author. 0379-0738195609.50 0 1995Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved SSDI 0379-0738(94)01612-Z