Guilty by dissociation: Paper-fluidic presumptive testing of the new psychoactive substance, diphenidine

Holmes, P, McNeill, L, Sutcliffe, OB and Shaw, KJ (2016) Guilty by dissociation: Paper-fluidic presumptive testing of the new psychoactive substance, diphenidine. In: 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, MicroTAS 2016, 09 October 2016 - 13 October 2016, Dublin, Ireland.

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Abstract

This paper reports a paper microfluidic device which can presumptively test for the new psychoactive substance (NPS), diphenidine. A simple 'dip-stick' test has been developed in which Scott's and Marquis reagents are stored on the paper-fluidic device and a colour change is observed upon sample addition if the drug is present. The limit of detection for diphenidine was determined to be 2.5 mg mL-1 and 5 mg mL-1 for the Scott's and Marquis reagents, respectively, which is within the range normally found within bulk samples encountered by law enforcement agencies. A range of street samples were tested and the results showed strong correlation with conventional laboratory methods.