Good day all,
Question, I have morphine returned to pharmacy and would like to test the returns for morphine content. Has anyone used refractive index to QC samples in the 10PPM range in saline?
I don't have access to GC/or HPLC. Has anyone determined a quick and dirty method compared to GC/HPLC to use?
Any help would be appreciated.

my fist question is how an RI detector will help without a separation module?

You could try UV absorbance but it is unlikely to be sensitive enough. Fluorescence (with derivatisation) may be OK. Coulimetric methods may suffice, or maybe you could look for an colourimetric enzymatic response. As it is a controlled substance and drug of abuse, you could probably buy a simple indicator kit to qualitatively analyse for the drug.

I tried a google.com search of "morphine + assay" and got a large hit list. I did not look through the whole list, but there were at least two listings of companies on the first page that make the test kits mentioned by anonymous.

I looked at google, all the hits were for drug screening of the alkaloids.
The problem: Does the returned merchandise contain morphine, or is someone substituting saline for the morphine. The thought was to try checking the Refractive Index of morphine compared to saline and determining the concentration is within the limits.
I was looking at a Refractometer in the $200 range, very cheap if this will work. I was looking for someone who might have tried RI and backed up the data with GC/MS or HPLC.

do you have an IR machine?

if the material is in solution, a conductance probe would distinguish between a morphine and saline solution.