Ultraviolet Resonance Raman Spectroscopy for the Detection of Cocaine in Oral Fluid

• NCJ Number: 253178
• Journal: Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy Volume: 188 Dated: January 2018 Pages: 338-340
• Author(s): Valentina D'Elia; Gemma Montalvo; Carmen Garcia Ruiz; Vladimir V. Ermolenkov; Yasmine Ahmen; Igor K. Lednev
• Date Published: January 2018
• Length: 3 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-DN-BX-K016
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: Raman spectroscopy for analyzing body fluid traces: Moving towards a practical forensic application

Annotation

This study tested the possibility of using resonance Raman spectroscopy to detect cocaine in oral fluid without pretreating samples.

Abstract

Detecting and quantifying cocaine in oral fluid is important for practical forensics. Up to date, mainly destructive methods or biochemical tests have been used; however, spectroscopic methods were only applied to pretreated samples. The current study found that ultraviolet resonance Raman spectroscopy with 239-nm excitation can detect cocaine in oral fluid at 10 ìg/mL level. Further method development will be needed for reaching the practically useful levels of cocaine detection. (publisher abstract modified)