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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...

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Autores principales: González-Hernández, Jerson, Ott, Colby Edward, Arcos-Martínez, María Julia, Colina, Álvaro, Heras, Aránzazu, Alvarado-Gámez, Ana Lorena, Urcuyo, Roberto, Arroyo-Mora, Luis E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
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.
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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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