The development of appropriate methods for drug analysis at the Forensic Chemistry Laboratory, Cape Town

The Forensic Chemistry Laboratory, Cape Town, analyses samples submitted by forensic pathologists in order to assist with determining the cause of death in cases of unnatural death. Many of these samples test positive for the presence of drugs and other toxic substances. Because of resource constraints, pathologists submit samples at their discretion and not on a routine basis. In this study, forensic and chemical aspects were combined and used as the motivation for the development of an improved extraction procedure for systematic toxicological analysis. The scope of the study was therefore twofold. Firstly, a study was undertaken of unnatural deaths in the greater Cape Town area for which samples would not normally have been submitted.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Chemistry

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Adams, Deidré Ilana

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Ravenscroft, Neil
• Lourens, Denise
• Baard, André

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6294

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6294