TY - JOUR PY - 1990// TI - Attempted murder with pancuronium JO - Journal of forensic sciences A1 - Briglia, E. J. A1 - Davis, P. L. A1 - Katz, M. A1 - Dal Cortivo, L. A. SP - 1468 EP - 1476 VL - 35 IS - 6 N2 - A nurse was accused of attempting to murder her anesthesiologist husband on two occasions by administering to him a neuromuscular blocking agent. In both episodes, urine specimens were obtained from the victim shortly after the suspected assaults. The samples were initially tested fluorometrically using Rose Bengal dye as a pairing agent. Both were presumptively positive for pancuronium. Confirmation of these results was achieved by pairing the drug with potassium iodide, extracting the complex, and submitting the extract to thin-layer chromatography (TLC) cleanup, elution at the appropriate retardation factor (Rf), and, finally, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis in the selected-ion monitoring mode. The two quaternary amines of pancuronium appear to undergo pyrolytic N-demethylation in the injection port to yield an entity amenable to capillary column gas chromatography. The mass spectrum of the compound consists of a base peak of m/z 322, with additional fragments of 292, 323, 338, and 397 m/z, each of which was monitored. The confirmed positive findings were instrumental in adjudicating the case.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0022-1198 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -