On account of their efficacy as µ-opioid receptor agonists, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues (‘fentanyls’) have fallen into favour within the illicit drug community. Consequently, there has been a significant public health crisis, unfolding across many countries, involving fentanyls and other synthetic opioids. Because of the potency of these opioids, even low-level contamination represents an immediate threat to the life and health of unprotected personnel and poses significant challenges to decontamination of sites where they are present. A dimension that exacerbates these challenges is the spillage of fentanyls in non-traditional settings such as residence, and clandestine manufacturing facilities. Hence, the decontamination of these sites and neutralisation of fentanyls where they are discovered is a key requirement in site remediation. There is currently much uncertainty around the limited operational procedures promoted for the decontamination of fentanyls in operational settings due to significant gaps in knowledge about fentanyl degradation. This review provides a comprehensive survey of the literature pertaining to the forced degradation of fentanyl and its analogues. By assessing the current state of the art regarding fentanyl degradation, including identifying knowledge gaps, the authors provide recommendations for future studies. These recommendations aim to address these gaps so that future guidance provided to first responders is based on sound scientific evidence about the chemical degradation of fentanyl and its analogues.

由于它们作为μ阿片样物质受体激动剂的功效，芬太尼和芬太尼类似物（“芬太尼”）在非法药物界已广受欢迎。因此，在许多国家中发生了严重的公共卫生危机，涉及芬太尼和其他合成阿片类药物。由于这些阿片类药物的效力，即使是低水平的污染也对未受保护的人员的生命和健康构成直接威胁，并对存在其的场所进行净化提出了严峻的挑战。加剧这些挑战的一个方面是芬太尼在非传统环境（例如住宅和秘密制造设施）中的泄漏。因此，这些部位的去污和芬太尼类被发现的中和是场地修复的关键要求。由于对芬太尼降解的认识存在巨大差距，目前在操作环境中推广用于芬太尼去污的有限操作程序存在很大不确定性。这篇综述提供了有关芬太尼及其类似物被强迫降解的文献的全面综述。通过评估有关芬太尼降解的最新技术，包括确定知识差距，作者为以后的研究提供了建议。这些建议旨在解决这些差距，以便为第一响应者提供的未来指导基于有关芬太尼及其类似物化学降解的可靠科学证据。