Recent progress of HPLC analysis for drugs of abuse

Recent progress of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for drugs of abuse was reviewed on over 100 papers. First, papers concerning screening analyses for drugs of abuse using HPLC were reviewed and discussed about their usefulness. Secondly, the progress of new analytical methods for high-sensitive detection of amphetamines, morphine, codeine, 6-acetylmorphine, cannabinoids, cocaine and others were reviewed by dividing into 1. fluorometric, 2. electrochemical, and 3. chemiluminescence detections. Thirdly, new studies on the chiral assay for amphetamines using chiral derivatization or chiral column were reviewed. Furthermore, the application to discrimination between use of over-the-counter drugs and illegal amphetamines was exemplified. Fourthly, the utility of a photodiode array detector and a mass detector for the confirmation of drugs was shown by citing several papers. Moreover, it was discussed about automation of the HPLC analysis using the column switching method, capillary electrophoresis and supercritical fluid chromatography applied for the analysis of drugs of abuse.