Recent interest in making drugs in which some of the hydrogen atoms are replaced with deuterium has caused alarm in a key medical speciality that already uses such compounds: forensic toxicology. Some pharmaceutical companies hope that deuterated drugs will survive for longer in the body, have fewer side effects and combine better with other drugs (see Nature 458,269; 2009). But for the researchers who look for Pharmaceuticals in post-mortem examinations or accident investigations the idea is "horrifying", says Sarah Kerrigan, director of the forensic science programme at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. The problem is that toxicologists already use deuterated versions of pharmaceuticals as reference standards when using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The reference for a drug of interest usually has three (or more) hydrogen atoms replaced by deuterium, providing a precise signal in the resulting spectrum close to that of the drug being looked for. If the drug of interest were itself also deuterated both compounds would be in the same place. "The bottom line is that we will miss them," sayr Kerrigan.
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