Abstract The ongoing epidemic pertaining to overdose deaths has been attributed to the synthetic opioid fentanyl due to its use as an adulterant in other, less potent drugs of abuse. Detection of low quantities of fentanyl would, therefore, be extremely useful in a forensic science laboratory. While Raman spectroscopy is particularly effective at distinguishing between classes of drugs, weak signatures can prove difficult when dealing with microscopic samples. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy provides the enhancement necessary to make Raman a viable approach for the detection of small amounts of fentanyl. This work explores the use of a paper-based substrate loaded with silver nanoparticles for the recovery of small quantities of fentanyl in cocaine, where it was identified at a lower limit of 500 ng (∼65 ppm) in mixtures. Linear relationships were investigated between intensity and concentration for diagnostic peaks associated with fentanyl and cocaine, which in turn sheds light on the attenuation of the enhancement intensity as a result of competitive binding to silver nanoparticles. This work demonstrates a potentially simple and qualitative pathway for the forensic analysis of fentanyl as an adulterant in cocaine.

中文翻译：

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使用表面增强拉曼光谱检测可卡因二元混合物中的芬太尼

摘要 与过量死亡有关的持续流行归因于合成阿片类芬太尼，因为它被用作其他药效较弱的滥用药物的掺杂物。因此，检测少量芬太尼在法医学实验室中极为有用。虽然拉曼光谱在区分药物类别方面特别有效，但在处理微观样品时，弱特征可能会很困难。表面增强拉曼散射光谱提供了必要的增强，使拉曼成为检测少量芬太尼的可行方法。这项工作探索了使用载有银纳米颗粒的纸基基材回收可卡因中的少量芬太尼，在混合物中发现它的下限为 500 ng (~65 ppm)。研究了与芬太尼和可卡因相关的诊断峰的强度和浓度之间的线性关系，这反过来揭示了由于与银纳米颗粒的竞争性结合而导致的增强强度衰减。这项工作为芬太尼作为可卡因掺假物的法医分析提供了一种潜在的简单定性途径。