The role of alkylsilyl derivatization techniques in the analysis of illicit drugs by gas chromatography

In this paper the possibilities of illicit drug analyses by gas chromatography (GC) are reviewed: performing analyses without derivatization and applying alkylsilyl derivatizations. Further sorting was based on the alkylsilylation reagent type, on the examined matrix, enrichment, derivatization, acquisition protocols, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantitation (LOQ) data, and on the target illicit drug(s) to be identified and quantified. Special attention was paid to the selectivity and sensitivity properties of methods. Analytical performance characteristics were documented in details and commented.