Our references
Detection of fraud in dietary supplements
In products sold as dietary supplements, which are claimed to contain exclusively plant extracts and to serve to improve the sexual performance of men and women, the analysis of spectroscopic (NMR) and spectrometric (MS) data revealed the presence of sildenafil (trade name Viagra, Revatio), tadalafil (trade name Cialis), vardenafil (trade name Levitra), thiosildenafil - derivatives of sildenafil, and in some cases a mixture of some of these compounds. Furthermore, the antidepressants Fluoxetine and Sibutramine, an appetite suppressant that has been discontinued in many countries for causing heart problems, have been found in our Laboratory in several dietary supplements declared as "natural."
When consumed as herbal "natural" preparations that consumers generally consider not harmful, such counterfeit products can cause serious health problems.
Drug precursors - acetic anhydride
Based on the request of the Ministry of Health, an analysis of the liquid taken from the tank kept at the border crossing was performed. The contents of the tank are declared as "anhydrous acetic acid." Proton NMR and IR spectra of the tank sample were recorded, as well as acetic acid spectra. Based on them, it was unequivocally determined that the tank contained acetic anhydride and not acetic acid as declared. Therefore, it was an attempt to illegally import acetic anhydride, the circulation of which is strictly controlled, as it is used to produce heroin (acetylation of morphine) and benzyl methyl ketone, the starting components for (Leuckart's) amphetamine synthesis.
Illegal production of amphetamines
About 100 samples collected by the police in the plant of the company "Lenal Farm," on suspicion of illegal production of illegal chemical substances, were forwarded to our Laboratory through the Drug Agency. They were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance.
Based on these spectra, it was unequivocally proven that amphetamine production was performed at that place. Amphetamine and its N-methyl derivative belong to drugs that stimulate the central nervous system. They cause many side effects, increase blood pressure, and due to prolonged use, violent destructive behavior and acute psychosis, similar to paranoid schizophrenia, occur.
Fake antitetanus vaccine
A request was received to analyze the imported antitetanus vaccine Tetaglobuline (allegedly produced at the Pasteur Mérrieux Connaught Institute). Proton NMR spectra of lyophilized vaccine and Tetagam P antitetanus vaccine (produced by ZLB Behring) purchased at a nearby pharmacy were recorded. There is a big difference between their spectra, where the spectrum of the purchased vaccine corresponds to the spectrum of the protein that should be in the correct antitetanus vaccine, while the spectrum of the suspicious sample unequivocally indicates gentamicin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic whose price is ten times lower than the real antitetanus vaccine, and does not act against the tetanus pathogen Clostridium tetani. Therefore, the conclusion is that the so-called Tetaglobuline is a fake vaccine.
Proficiency test under the auspices of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
The successful results of Proficiency tests in which the Laboratory for Instrumental Analysis participated, carried out under the auspices of the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the latter cooperating with United Nations, located in The Hague, the Netherlands, demonstrated the high competence of the Laboratory (according to world criteria). This rather difficult and complicated test is organized to find in the participating countries' laboratories (so-called designated laboratories) competent to reliably analyze toxic substances, able to react promptly in case of a possible accident, i.e., application of chemical weapons.
Since 2008 our Laboratory has taken part, as the only one from this region, with considerable success in the Proficiency tests, organized by OPCW twice a year. In the course of four tests, involving the identification of unknown constituents in very diluted samples containing: toxic substances used as chemical weapons, their degradation products, their precursors, and byproducts in their synthesis, all present compounds have been identified (mainly nervous poisons: alkyl phosphonate esters, mustard gases: organosulphur and organoarsenic compounds).
In the test carried out in 2014, involving 16 participating laboratories from all over the world, in addition to laboratories from the USA, Switzerland, and Romania, our Laboratory was rated the highest mark – "A."
For Serbia, as a signatory of the Convention and a member of the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, this was a considerable success, taking into account that in this testing usually participate laboratories from big economically developed countries such as the USA, Russian Federation, China, France, Netherland, and Great Britain.