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Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
The synthetic cathinones mephedrone (4-MMC) and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC) are two designer drugs that represent the rise and fall effect of this drug category within the stimulants market and are still available in several countries around the world. As a result, the qualitative and quantitative...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8749763/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35009837 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22010295 |
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author | González-Hernández, Jerson Ott, Colby Edward Arcos-Martínez, María Julia Colina, Álvaro Heras, Aránzazu Alvarado-Gámez, Ana Lorena Urcuyo, Roberto Arroyo-Mora, Luis E. |
author_facet | González-Hernández, Jerson Ott, Colby Edward Arcos-Martínez, María Julia Colina, Álvaro Heras, Aránzazu Alvarado-Gámez, Ana Lorena Urcuyo, Roberto Arroyo-Mora, Luis E. |
author_sort | González-Hernández, Jerson |
collection | PubMed |
description | The synthetic cathinones mephedrone (4-MMC) and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC) are two designer drugs that represent the rise and fall effect of this drug category within the stimulants market and are still available in several countries around the world. As a result, the qualitative and quantitative determination of ‘legal highs’, and their mixtures, are of great interest. This work explores for the first time the spectroelectrochemical response of these substances by coupling cyclic voltammetry (CV) with Raman spectroscopy in a portable instrument. It was found that the stimulants exhibit a voltammetric response on a gold screen-printed electrode while the surface is simultaneously electro-activated to achieve a periodic surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate with high reproducibility. The proposed method enables a rapid and reliable determination in which both substances can be selectively analyzed through the oxidation waves of the molecules and the characteristic bands of the electrochemical SERS (EC-SERS) spectra. The feasibility and applicability of the method were assessed in simulated seized drug samples and spiked synthetic urine. This time-resolved spectroelectrochemical technique provides a cost-effective and user-friendly tool for onsite screening of synthetic stimulants in matrices with low concentration analytes for forensic applications. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8749763 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-87497632022-01-12 Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy González-Hernández, Jerson Ott, Colby Edward Arcos-Martínez, María Julia Colina, Álvaro Heras, Aránzazu Alvarado-Gámez, Ana Lorena Urcuyo, Roberto Arroyo-Mora, Luis E. Sensors (Basel) Article The synthetic cathinones mephedrone (4-MMC) and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC) are two designer drugs that represent the rise and fall effect of this drug category within the stimulants market and are still available in several countries around the world. As a result, the qualitative and quantitative determination of ‘legal highs’, and their mixtures, are of great interest. This work explores for the first time the spectroelectrochemical response of these substances by coupling cyclic voltammetry (CV) with Raman spectroscopy in a portable instrument. It was found that the stimulants exhibit a voltammetric response on a gold screen-printed electrode while the surface is simultaneously electro-activated to achieve a periodic surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate with high reproducibility. The proposed method enables a rapid and reliable determination in which both substances can be selectively analyzed through the oxidation waves of the molecules and the characteristic bands of the electrochemical SERS (EC-SERS) spectra. The feasibility and applicability of the method were assessed in simulated seized drug samples and spiked synthetic urine. This time-resolved spectroelectrochemical technique provides a cost-effective and user-friendly tool for onsite screening of synthetic stimulants in matrices with low concentration analytes for forensic applications. MDPI 2021-12-31 /pmc/articles/PMC8749763/ /pubmed/35009837 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22010295 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article González-Hernández, Jerson Ott, Colby Edward Arcos-Martínez, María Julia Colina, Álvaro Heras, Aránzazu Alvarado-Gámez, Ana Lorena Urcuyo, Roberto Arroyo-Mora, Luis E. Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy |
title | Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy |
title_full | Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy |
title_fullStr | Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy |
title_full_unstemmed | Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy |
title_short | Rapid Determination of the ‘Legal Highs’ 4-MMC and 4-MEC by Spectroelectrochemistry: Simultaneous Cyclic Voltammetry and In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy |
title_sort | rapid determination of the ‘legal highs’ 4-mmc and 4-mec by spectroelectrochemistry: simultaneous cyclic voltammetry and in situ surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8749763/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35009837 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22010295 |
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