Field-amplified sample stacking capillary electrophoresis with electrochemiluminescence applied to the determination of illicit drugs on banknotes

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) with Ru(bpy)32+ electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection system was established to the determination of contamination of banknotes with controlled drugs and a high efficiency on-column field-amplified sample stacking (FASS) technique was also optimized to increase the ECL intensity. The method was illustrated using heroin and cocaine, which are two typical and popular illicit drugs. Highest sample stacking was obtained when 0.01 mM acetic acid was chosen for sample dissolution with electrokinetical injection for 6 s at 17 kV. Under the optimized conditions: ECL detection at 1.2 V, separation voltage 10.0 kV, 20 mM phosphate–acetate (pH 7.2) as running buffer, 5 mM Ru(bpy)32+ with 50 mM phosphate–acetate (pH 7.2) in the detection cell, the standard curves were linear in the range of 7.50 × 10−8 to 1.00 × 10−5 M for heroin and 2.50 × 10−7 to 1.00 × 10−4 M for cocaine and detection limits of 50 nM for heroin and 60 nM for cocaine were achieved (S/N = 3), respectively. Relative standard derivations of the ECL intensity and the migration time were 3.50 and 0.51% for heroin and 4.44 and 0.12% for cocaine, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of heroin and cocaine on illicit drug contaminated banknotes without any damage of the paper currency. A baseline resolution for heroin and cocaine was achieved within 6 min.