Chromatographic Techniques in the Forensic Analysis of Designer Drugs

There is a dramatic rise of novel drug use due to the increased popularity of so-called designer drugs. These synthetic drugs can be illegal in some countries, but legal in others and novel compounds unknown to drug chemistry emerge monthly. This thoughtfully constructed edited reference presents the main chromatographic methodologies and strategies used to discover and analyze novel designer drugs contained in diverse biological materials. The methods are based on molecular characteristics of the drugs belonging to each individual class of compounds, so it will be clear how the current methods are adaptable to future new drugs that appear in the market.

Teresa Kowalska earned an MSc in chemistry from the former Pedagogical High School in Katowice, Poland, a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Silesia, Katowice, and a DSc in physical chemistry from The Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland. She has authored and coauthored approximately 300 original research and review papers, 16 invited book chapters, and approximately 500 conference papers for scientific conferences. She is also coeditor-in-chief of the international chromatography journal Acta Chromatographica and an editorial board member for several chromatography journals. Her main research interests focus on applications of thin-layer, high-performance liquid and gas chromatography to physicochemical problems.

Mieczyslaw Sajewicz earned an MSc and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, and a DSc in pharmacy from Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. He has authored and coauthored over 150 original research papers, over 350 conference papers, an encyclopedia entry in Encyclopedia of Chromatography, Second Edition, and two book chapters. He is an editorial board member and coeditor-in-chief of Acta Chromatographica and an editorial board member for the analytical chemistry section of The Scientific World Journal. He is also a member of the Organizing Committee of the annual all-Polish Symposium on Chromatographic Methods of Investigating the Organic Compounds and co-chairman of the Scientific and Organizing Committee of the same event.

Joseph Sherma is professor emeritus of chemistry at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. He earned his PhD in analytical chemistry from Rutgers, the State University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, under the supervision of the renowned ion exchange chromatography expert William Rieman III. He taught courses in analytical chemistry for more than 40 years, was head of the Lafayette College Chemistry Department for 12 years, and continues to supervise research students. He has authored, coauthored, edited, or coedited more than 750 publications, including research papers and review articles; approximately 30 invited book chapters; and more than 65 books and U.S. government agency manuals in the areas of analytical chemistry and chromatography. He served for 23 years as editor for residues and trace elements of the Journal of AOAC International and is currently its acquisitions editor. He received the 1995 ACS Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution sponsored by Research Corporation, and the first 2009 issue of the journal Acta Universitatis Cibiensis, Seria F, Chemia was dedicated in honor of his teaching, research, and publication accomplishments in analytical chemistry and chromatography.