Heroin, 6-actetylmorphine (6-AM), and morphine are related compounds. 6-AM is considered evidence of heroin ingestion but it can be formed or degraded in vitro.
Drug
Composition
heroin
morphine + 2 acetyl
6-AM
morphine + 1 acetyl
morphine
morphine + 0 acetyl
Acetyl groups may be removed by serum butylcholinesterase, causing heroin to become 6-AM and 6-AM to become morphine. Factors increasing degradation include:
(1) an alkaline sample
(2) room temperature or higher
Acetyl groups may be added when a sample is derivatized for GC-MS testing. This can cause morphine to be read as 6-AM. Testing the sample by LC-MS will not show this change since there is no derivatization step.
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