Quantitative Measurements of Codeine and Fentanyl on a Surface-Enhanced Raman-Active Pad

Abstract

The USA is in the midst of an opioid crisis that included over 60,000 overdose fatalities in 2017, mostly unintentional. This is due to excessive use of prescription opioids and the use of very strong synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, mixed with illicit street drugs. The ability to rapidly determine if people or packages entering the country have or contain drugs could reduce their availability, and thereby decrease the use of illicit drugs. In an effort to address this problem, we have been investigating the ability of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to detect trace amounts of opioids on clothing and packages. Here, we report the measurement of codeine and fentanyl at 100 ng/mL for 5 min on a pad impregnated with gold colloids, as well as a preliminary measurement of 500 pg of fentanyl on a glass surface using one of these pads. The calculated limit of detection for this measurement was 40 pg. This data strongly suggests that these pads, used with portable Raman analyzers, would be invaluable to airport security, drug raids, crime scenes, and forensic analysis.

Methods in Raman spectroscopy for saliva studies – a review

“…[48,50,99,[137][138][139][140] The majority of the early work in studying drugs in saliva has been led by Farquharson et al. [137,138,[141][142][143][144][145] The practicalities of developing a SERS sensor to detect illicit drugs, including via saliva, have been recently reviewed by Yu et al [65] The authors note that conveniently many illicit compounds are also good Raman scatterers. Raman-saliva studies in illicit compounds show high sensitivity using SERS-based sensing, comfortably outperforming the 10 s ng/mL range cutoff for many illicit drugs as recommended by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).…”

“…Saliva for Raman studies is frequently acquired from a commercial source. Purchased saliva sample studies include Shende (Lee Biosolutions), [141] Muro (Lee Biosolutions and Bioreclamation), [154] Muro (Biological Specialty Company, Lee Biosolutions, Bioreclamation), [155] D'Elia (Bioreclamation), [105] Eom (Lee Biosolutions), [197] and Al-Hetani (Bioreclamation). [239] Obtaining saliva from a commercial source may simplify subsequent steps in saliva storage and measurement and negate problems regarding collection and questions on optimal preprocesses e.g., centrifugation.…”

Progress of the applications of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in illicit drug detection

“…Figure 8 Photograph of the collection pads before and after immobilizing the gold nanoparticles, along with a rudimentary swabbing rod. The pads are~5 mm in diameter [40] (color online). (网络版彩图) 图 10 (a~f) 为用萃取的方法快速提取尿液中的毒品进行检 测的过程.…”

Silver nanoparticle on zinc oxide array for label-free detection of opioids through surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy

“…This method provides more accurate results, but the technique is costly, requiring a time-consuming and laborious sample preparation procedure which can take up to 24 hours. 4 In recent years, Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) has become a popular method of detecting trace amounts of chemical compounds, especially drugs, [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] due to its ability to enhance the Raman scattering signals of detection targets with high sensitivity, rapid detection time, and non-destructive analysis method. 16,17 For example, Masterson et al 9 developed a exible SERS patch with chemically functionalized Au triangular prisms for detecting highly potent drugs.…”

“…However, a limitation of many current SERS based opioid detecting devices is that they have not been tested using real blood samples, which is an important step for verifying the device's performance in practical settings for detecting the drug use in people. [6][7][8][10][11][12]14,15,18 In addition, these current SERS based sensor of opioid can only detect opioid with a concentration as low as several hundred nanograms per milliliter or even higher. For example, while Shende et al 13 have tested the drugs in blood, their experimental detection limit is 500 ng mL À1 which is too large for detecting trace amount.…”