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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21088/jfct.2454.9363.7121.1

Abstract

Dicyclomine Hydrochloride belongs to a class of synthetic anticholinergics. It is regularly used for the treatment of spasmodic pain, spasmodic dysmenorrhea, and renal, ureteric and biliary colic. This drug is easily available in the market and can be abused for suicidal purposes. Its unsupervised use can lead to abuse, accidental poisoning along with the occasional report of intentional suicidal poisoning. Hence its analysis is very important for medicolegal purposes.Biological samples of choice for routine qualitative analysis of drug is liver, stomach content, whole blood, and urine. Routine toxicological procedures employ highly sophisticated state of the art instruments like High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Gas Liquid Chromatography (GLC) and Liquid ChromatographyMass Spectrophotometer (LC-MS) for the estimation of drug from biological and non-biological matrices but the present paper deals with an attempt to analyse the drug extracted from the biological sample of interest using a simple, feasible and optimal method with the help of Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). The study involves the extraction of the drug from matrix (blood), using Liquid-Liquid Extraction method of alkaline plasma followed by its separation and identification by Thin Layer Chromatography. The present paper describes a simple, economical, reproducible sample extraction, clean-up and detection method that can be easily attempted in a laboratory.

Keywords : Whole blood; Dicyclomine; Extraction; Analysis; Drug.

Corresponding Author : Supriya Krishna, Senior Scientific Assistant Toxicology, Chemistry Department, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital, National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, Delhi 110085, India.