EMIT, normally used on urine or serum for the detection of drugs of abuse, has been utilized for the analysis of drugs in aqueous brain extracts. A modified Stas-Otto procedure performed on the brain tissue produced a liquid containing no interfering substances. The detection limits proved to be at least as sensitive as the chromatographic screening techniques normally applied to larger portions of the final aqueous filtrate. Out of 166 cases, 50 positive findings were determined. Two glutethimide cases gave positives for the barbiturate assay and a fatal overdose of amitriptyline appeared positive when tested with the benzodiazepine reagents. All other positive findings correlated well with the chromatographic findings.

A procedure for separating barbiturates by reverse-phase TLC is described. A spotted TLC plate is dipped in mineral oil/petroleum ether (1:10) and run 15 cm in a solvent of water/methanol/ammonium hydroxide, (80:20:2). After visualization, the drugs tested showed distinct separation.

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