Technical Note – Gas Chromatography Vapor-Phase Infrared Spectroscopy (GC-VIR)

This technical note to the white paper “Evolving Approaches and Technologies for Seized Drug Analysis” provides an in-depth description of gas chromatography vapor-phase infrared spectroscopy (GC-VIR). Seized drug samples are commonly analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). These techniques are robust, well integrated into forensic laboratories, and familiar to analysts.  GC-VIR was not widely used until 30 years after the initial introduction when improvements in sensitivity, dynamic detection range, quantitation, real-time detection, and library availability approached that of GC-MS.