Detecting Amphetamines On The Spot

Scientists in Korea have developed a fast, sensitive and portable sensor for on-site detection of amphetamines in urine.

AsianScientist (Oct. 4, 2017) – Researchers in Korea have developed a wireless sensor and a smartphone app that can detect the presence of amphetamine in a drop of human urine in seconds. They published their findings in the journal Chem.

Amphetamines are psychostimulant drugs that produce a sense of euphoria by altering the balance of neurotransmitters in the pleasure center of the brain. This causes amphetamines to be strongly psychologically addictive, and the abuse of amphetamine-like drugs is pervasive in Asia.

In this study, a team of researchers led by Professor Oh Joon Hak in Korea have developed a prototype device for the detection of amphetamines in urine. The Oh lab, which has expertise in sensor technology, worked on the project in collaboration with the lab of the paper’s other senior author, Professor Kim Kimoon, who works on molecular recognition at the Pohang University of Science and Technology and the Institute for Basic Science by using a family of hollowed-out pumpkin-shaped molecules called cucurbiturils.

This partnership was inspired when Dr. Hwang Ilha, a senior scientist in the Kim lab, hypothesized that amphetamines would tightly bind to cucurbituril molecules. Through their collaboration, the resultant device is portable enough to be worn as a bracelet, has unprecedented sensitivity for amphetamines with low risk for false-positive results and costs about US$50 to produce.

“Conventional drug detection generally use techniques that require long operation times, sophisticated experimental procedures and expensive equipment with well-trained professional operators. Moreover, they are not usually portable,” said Oh. “Our method is a new type of drug sensor that can solve all these problems at once.”

The researchers tested their sensor by adding amphetamines to urine and then evaluating results sent via Bluetooth from the sensor to an Android app. False-positive results were not detected in human urine, but the researchers do not rule out the possibility that false positives could occur. Further testing in clinical settings will need to be conducted before the product can be commercialized, but the ultimate goal would be to provide a mechanism for on-site drug testing.

“On-site amphetamine testing could potentially prevent additional crimes or accidents that may be caused by drug abuse,” said Hwang. “For example, breathalyzers are effective at catching drunk drivers on the spot, thereby preventing accidents. We hope that our sensor may have a similar effect with people who abuse amphetamines.”

“We believe that the combination of molecular recognition and organic electronics is very powerful and will greatly contribute to the development of accurate, sensitive, and inexpensive sensors beyond the limits of existing methods,” Kim added. “There are many important, real-world areas where sensors are required, such as environmental monitoring, healthcare, detection of dangerous substances, safety issues and so on. We are currently conducting further research in this direction.”



The article can be found at: Jang et al. (2017) Point-of-Use Detection of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants with Host-Molecule-Functionalized Organic Transistors.

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Source: Cell Press; Photo: Shutterstock.
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