Development of Microfluidic Devices for the Rapid Isolation and Detection of Drugs of Abuse

• NCJ Number: 225533
• Author(s): Bruce McCord; Carla Turner; Maximilien Blas; Sandra Bishop; Maggie Lerch; Sacha Dehere; Roberto Pannepucci
• Date Published: January 2008
• Length: 76 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2004-WG-BX-K077
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Test/Measurement; Report (Technical)
• Award: The development of microfluidic devices for the rapid isolation and detection of drugs of abuse.

Annotation

This report describes the methodology and outcomes for a project designed to test the use of microchip-based devices for separating and analyzing drug compounds that have been implicated in drug-facilitated sexual assault, including phenethyl amines, GHB, and benzodiazepines.

Abstract

The project demonstrates the feasibility of using micro fluidic devices as a rapid screening tool for the detection of benzodiazepines used in beverages for committing drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA); however, for use in court, more definitive techniques are required. CEC/MS (capillary electrochromatography mass spectrometry) provides this capability in a micro fluidic format. Procedures developed for publication in the forensic literature include a micro fluidic procedure for the indirect detection of nitro benzodiazepines, a procedure for the trace detection of phenethyl amines using chip detection, an online preconcentration technique for the detection of a wide variety of drugs in urine using CE, a technique for the ultra trace detection of benzodiazepines by CEC/MS, and the development of chip-based designs for improved resolution of samples by fluorescent and electrochemical detection. Future work will continue to expand the application of chip-based screening and CEC/MS-TOF techniques to other drugs implicated in DFSA. This will minimize sample requirements and provide sensitive, disposable analytical systems for high throughput analysis. This report provides a detailed description of the methods used to achieve the detection of phenethyl amines on micro fluidic devices, the indirect detection of benzodiazepines, and the use of CEC/MS and monolithic CEC/MS-TOF for inline extraction. 9 tables, 18 figures and 74 references