Richard Shepherd

Book Review: Analytical Methods in Forensic ChemistryAnalytical Methods in Forensic Chemistry. Edited byHoMat H.. Ellis Norwood Series in Analytical Chemistry. Pp. xvii + 440. Ellis Norwood1990. £56.00. ISBN 0-13-037961-1

The 29 chapters of this volume concern themselve; with the analyses of substances related to forensic problems. Drugs are the principle analytes discussed. They are encompassed in 22 of the chapters, 15 of which deal with substances subject to abuse and five with therapeutic agents. The remaining seven chapters primarily concern criminalistics. The common bond in those presentations is the illustrations of how modem technology has improved the analyses. Each chapter covers a different technique, primarily involving chromatographic techniques, but also including immunoassays and atomic absorption. Six chapters are devoted to mass spectrometry. They are primarily concerned with applications to arson investigations using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (CC/MS), tandem mass spectrometry for drugs in biological fluids, capillary GC/MS for residues of explosives, stableisotope-ratio mass spectrometry to differentiate samples by determining carbon-13:carbon-12 ratios, and fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry for detection of drug metabolites in human biological fluids. The chapters are all very brief and give minimal discussions of the novel analytical techniques. Lengthy bibliographic references seldom extend beyond 1985. Novel techniques, such as supercritical gas chromatography and capillary electrophoresis, are not mentioned. Advances in instrumentation, robotics, and computer technology, as they further methodology, are not discussed. Thus, the author’s stated goals to “provide an assessment of current [emphasis added] applications and future directions of analytical methods in forensic chemistry” are not met.