TY - JOUR
T1 - Large‐scale evaluation of ion mobility spectrometry for the rapid detection of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists in infused papers in prisons
AU - Norman, Caitlyn
AU - Mckirdy, Brian
AU - Walker, Gillian
AU - Dugard, Pat
AU - Nic Daéid, Niamh
AU - Mckenzie, Craig
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Leverhulme Trust for funding this work. The authors are grateful for the support of Steven Geddes and other front‐line staff of the Scottish Prison Service. We acknowledge Rapiscan Systems Limited and Scottish Prison Service staff who provided invaluable insight into the operational use of the Rapiscan ITMS™ instruments and staff of the Drug Expert Witness Unit, Police Scotland, who transported seized samples from the prisons in the study to the University of Dundee for testing.
Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Leverhulme Trust for funding this work. The authors are grateful for the support of Steven Geddes and other front-line staff of the Scottish Prison Service. We acknowledge Rapiscan Systems Limited and Scottish Prison Service staff who provided invaluable insight into the operational use of the Rapiscan ITMS? instruments and staff of the Drug Expert Witness Unit, Police Scotland, who transported seized samples from the prisons in the study to the University of Dundee for testing.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/14
Y1 - 2021/1/14
N2 - Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs), colloquially known as “spice,” are commonly used in prisons and enter establishments via the mail in the form of infused papers. Many prisons use benchtop ion mobility spectroscopy (IMS) instruments to screen mail and seized materials for the presence of SCRAs and other controlled substances. The selectivity and sensitivity of Rapiscan Itemiser
® 3E and Itemiser
® 4DN Ion Trap Mobility Spectroscopy™ (ITMS™) systems were evaluated using 21 SCRA reference standards. Some differences in the SCRA reduced mobility (K
0) values were observed between this study and those reported previously using IMS detection systems, particularly for cumyl and quinolinyl SCRAs (e.g., 5F-PB-22, Cumyl-4CN-BINACA, and 5F-Cumyl-PEGACLONE), although this was found to have little effect at an operational level. Operational reliability of the systems was evaluated by analyzing 392 paper and card samples with known drug content. ITMS™ system results (e.g., detect or nondetect) were in agreement with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis in up to 95% of samples tested. Overall, this study found the ITMS™ systems tested to be effective instruments when deployed for the rapid detection of SCRA-infused papers. Used effectively and with up-to-date substance libraries, they will help reduce the supply of SCRAs into prisons and identify emerging threats as they arise. Several emerging SCRAs (5F-MPP-PICA, 5F-EMB-PICA, and 4F-MDMB-BICA) were detected for the first time in Scottish prisons between May and August 2020 as a result of routine monitoring, and all were detected using the ITMS™ systems tested.
AB - Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs), colloquially known as “spice,” are commonly used in prisons and enter establishments via the mail in the form of infused papers. Many prisons use benchtop ion mobility spectroscopy (IMS) instruments to screen mail and seized materials for the presence of SCRAs and other controlled substances. The selectivity and sensitivity of Rapiscan Itemiser
® 3E and Itemiser
® 4DN Ion Trap Mobility Spectroscopy™ (ITMS™) systems were evaluated using 21 SCRA reference standards. Some differences in the SCRA reduced mobility (K
0) values were observed between this study and those reported previously using IMS detection systems, particularly for cumyl and quinolinyl SCRAs (e.g., 5F-PB-22, Cumyl-4CN-BINACA, and 5F-Cumyl-PEGACLONE), although this was found to have little effect at an operational level. Operational reliability of the systems was evaluated by analyzing 392 paper and card samples with known drug content. ITMS™ system results (e.g., detect or nondetect) were in agreement with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis in up to 95% of samples tested. Overall, this study found the ITMS™ systems tested to be effective instruments when deployed for the rapid detection of SCRA-infused papers. Used effectively and with up-to-date substance libraries, they will help reduce the supply of SCRAs into prisons and identify emerging threats as they arise. Several emerging SCRAs (5F-MPP-PICA, 5F-EMB-PICA, and 4F-MDMB-BICA) were detected for the first time in Scottish prisons between May and August 2020 as a result of routine monitoring, and all were detected using the ITMS™ systems tested.
KW - forensic chemistry
KW - ion mobility spectrometry
KW - new psychoactive substances
KW - prison
KW - synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097271470&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/dta.2945
DO - 10.1002/dta.2945
M3 - Article
C2 - 33058556
VL - 13
SP - 644
EP - 663
JO - Drug Testing and Analysis
JF - Drug Testing and Analysis
SN - 1942-7603
IS - 3
ER -