Characterization of Clandestine One Pot Methamphetamine Laboratories Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

摘要

Since first being seized in 2007, One Pot meth labs have quickly grown to become the number one route of methamphetamine production across the United States. While One Pot meth labs account for 98% of all clandestine labs in the United States, they have remained uncharacterized until now. This research sought to help assess the public health impacts of these clandestine laboratories and assist in criminal investigations by characterizing One Pot meth labs and identifying by-products produced during the illicit manufacturing of methamphetamine. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), by-products were identified in the solid waste (sludge), the liquid waste (post-salt solvent), and the product salts (powdered methamphetamine) of One Pot methamphetamine cooks. Once these by-products were identified, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to quantitate the concentration of these by-products in each of the three One Pot meth cook fractions for two organic solvents, namely camp fuel and starter fluid. It was determined that different by-products could be found in each fraction of a One Pot meth cook and that the amount of by-products produced during a cook were affected by the type of organic solvent used during a One Pot meth cook.