Cargando…

Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Illicit drugs use and abuse remains an increasing challenge for worldwide authorities and, therefore, it is important to have accurate methods to detect them in seized samples, biological fluids and wastewaters. They are recently classified as the latest group of emerging pollutants as their consump...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dragan, Ana-Maria, Truta, Florina Maria, Tertis, Mihaela, Florea, Anca, Schram, Jonas, Cernat, Andreea, Feier, Bogdan, De Wael, Karolien, Cristea, Cecilia, Oprean, Radu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8007852/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33796506
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.641147
_version_ 1783672575754240000
author Dragan, Ana-Maria
Truta, Florina Maria
Tertis, Mihaela
Florea, Anca
Schram, Jonas
Cernat, Andreea
Feier, Bogdan
De Wael, Karolien
Cristea, Cecilia
Oprean, Radu
author_facet Dragan, Ana-Maria
Truta, Florina Maria
Tertis, Mihaela
Florea, Anca
Schram, Jonas
Cernat, Andreea
Feier, Bogdan
De Wael, Karolien
Cristea, Cecilia
Oprean, Radu
author_sort Dragan, Ana-Maria
collection PubMed
description Illicit drugs use and abuse remains an increasing challenge for worldwide authorities and, therefore, it is important to have accurate methods to detect them in seized samples, biological fluids and wastewaters. They are recently classified as the latest group of emerging pollutants as their consumption increased tremendously in recent years. Nanomaterials have gained much attention over the last decade in the development of sensors for a myriad of applications. The applicability of these nanomaterials, functionalized or not, significantly increases and it is therefore highly suitable for use in the detection of illicit drugs. We have assessed the suitability of various nanoplatforms, such as graphene (GPH), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) for the electrochemical detection of illicit drugs. GPH and MWCNTs were chosen as the most suitable platforms and cocaine, 3,4-methylendioxymethamfetamine (MDMA), 3-methylmethcathinone (MMC) and α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone (PVP) were tested. Due to the hydrophobicity of the nanomaterials-based platforms which led to low signals, two strategies were followed namely, pretreatment of the electrodes in sulfuric acid by cyclic voltammetry and addition of Tween 20 to the detection buffer. Both strategies led to an increase in the oxidation signal of illicit drugs. Binary mixtures of illicit drugs with common adulterants found in street samples were also investigated. The proposed strategies allowed the sensitive detection of illicit drugs in the presence of most adulterants. The suitability of the proposed sensors for the detection of illicit drugs in spiked wastewaters was finally assessed.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8007852
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-80078522021-03-31 Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Dragan, Ana-Maria Truta, Florina Maria Tertis, Mihaela Florea, Anca Schram, Jonas Cernat, Andreea Feier, Bogdan De Wael, Karolien Cristea, Cecilia Oprean, Radu Front Chem Chemistry Illicit drugs use and abuse remains an increasing challenge for worldwide authorities and, therefore, it is important to have accurate methods to detect them in seized samples, biological fluids and wastewaters. They are recently classified as the latest group of emerging pollutants as their consumption increased tremendously in recent years. Nanomaterials have gained much attention over the last decade in the development of sensors for a myriad of applications. The applicability of these nanomaterials, functionalized or not, significantly increases and it is therefore highly suitable for use in the detection of illicit drugs. We have assessed the suitability of various nanoplatforms, such as graphene (GPH), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) for the electrochemical detection of illicit drugs. GPH and MWCNTs were chosen as the most suitable platforms and cocaine, 3,4-methylendioxymethamfetamine (MDMA), 3-methylmethcathinone (MMC) and α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone (PVP) were tested. Due to the hydrophobicity of the nanomaterials-based platforms which led to low signals, two strategies were followed namely, pretreatment of the electrodes in sulfuric acid by cyclic voltammetry and addition of Tween 20 to the detection buffer. Both strategies led to an increase in the oxidation signal of illicit drugs. Binary mixtures of illicit drugs with common adulterants found in street samples were also investigated. The proposed strategies allowed the sensitive detection of illicit drugs in the presence of most adulterants. The suitability of the proposed sensors for the detection of illicit drugs in spiked wastewaters was finally assessed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-03-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8007852/ /pubmed/33796506 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.641147 Text en Copyright © 2021 Dragan, Truta, Tertis, Florea, Schram, Cernat, Feier, De Wael, Cristea and Oprean. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Chemistry
Dragan, Ana-Maria
Truta, Florina Maria
Tertis, Mihaela
Florea, Anca
Schram, Jonas
Cernat, Andreea
Feier, Bogdan
De Wael, Karolien
Cristea, Cecilia
Oprean, Radu
Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
title Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
title_full Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
title_fullStr Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
title_full_unstemmed Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
title_short Electrochemical Fingerprints of Illicit Drugs on Graphene and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
title_sort electrochemical fingerprints of illicit drugs on graphene and multi-walled carbon nanotubes
topic Chemistry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8007852/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33796506
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.641147
work_keys_str_mv AT dragananamaria electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT trutaflorinamaria electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT tertismihaela electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT floreaanca electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT schramjonas electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT cernatandreea electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT feierbogdan electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT dewaelkarolien electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT cristeacecilia electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes
AT opreanradu electrochemicalfingerprintsofillicitdrugsongrapheneandmultiwalledcarbonnanotubes