2023-09-18 バース大学
◆このデバイスは、合成カンナビノイドである「スパイス」を検出するために設計されており、スパイスは英国の刑務所やホームレスコミュニティで主に使用されています。スパイスは致命的なことがあり、精神病、脳卒中、発作などの重篤な副作用を引き起こすことがあります。
◆このデバイスは、刑務所に持ち込まれるスパイスの流れを阻止し、これらの高度に中毒性のある合成薬物の使用者に与える壊滅的な影響を減少させるために使用されることを期待しています。また、さらなる改良を加えることで、すべての種類の合成薬物を検出できるようになる見込みです。
<関連情報>
- https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/portable-device-instantly-detects-illegal-drugs-with-95-accuracy/
- https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01844
物理的マトリックス上の合成カンナビノイドを瞬時に検出、低コストで超小型のデバイスに実装 Instant Detection of Synthetic Cannabinoids on Physical Matrices, Implemented on a Low-Cost, Ultraportable Device
Gyles E. Cozier, Rachael C. Andrews, Anca Frinculescu, Ranjeet Kumar, Benedict May, Tom Tooth, Peter Collins, Andrew Costello, Tom S. F. Haines, Tom P. Freeman, Ian S. Blagbrough, Jennifer Scott, Trevor Shine, Oliver B. Sutcliffe, Stephen M. Husbands, Jonathan Leach, Richard W. Bowman, and Christopher R. Pudney
Analytical Chemistry August 29, 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01844
Abstract
Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) make up a class of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), used predominantly in prisons and homeless communities in the U.K. SCs can have severe side effects, including psychosis, stroke, and seizures, with numerous reported deaths associated with their use. The chemical diversity of SCs presents the major challenge to their detection since approaches relying on specific molecular recognition become outdated almost immediately. Ideally one would have a generic approach to detecting SCs in portable settings. The problem of SC detection is more challenging still because the majority of SCs enter the prison estate adsorbed onto physical matrices such as paper, fabric, or herb materials. That is, regardless of the detection modality used, the necessary extraction step reduces the effectiveness and ability to rapidly screen materials on-site. Herein, we demonstrate a truly instant generic test for SCs, tested against real-world drug seizures. The test is based on two advances. First, we identify a spectrally silent region in the emission spectrum of most physical matrices. Second, the finding that background signals (including from autofluorescence) can be accurately predicted is based on tracking the fraction of absorbed light from the irradiation source. Finally, we demonstrate that the intrinsic fluorescence of a large range of physical substrates can be leveraged to track the presence of other drugs of interest, including the most recent iterations of benzodiazepines and opioids. We demonstrate the implementation of our presumptive test in a portable, pocket-sized device that will find immediate utility in prisons and law enforcement agencies around the world.
