Electrochemical Screening of Synthetic Cathinones

Synthetic cathinones (SCat) are an emerging class of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) that have continued to increase in prevalence in recent years. They are psychostimulants with hallucinogenic effects similar to those of cocaine and amphetamines. Given their increasing occurrence within the global drug market, there is a necessity for a rapid and portable screening method within forensic drug analysis. Currently, the primary approaches for detecting synthetic cathinones rely on chromatographic analysis. While this remains the gold standard for the vast majority of forensic drug analysis, it is limited to laboratory analysis and is not well-suited to portable crime scene analysis. This contribution illustrates the potential of square wave voltammetry (SWV) as a proof-of-concept for screening four synthetic cathinones, each representing one of the four main cathinone classification groups. This represents the development of a low cost, easy-to-use, portable electrochemical-based screening sensor that could be successfully employed for the screening of synthetic cathinones at crime scenes. The evaluation of the impact of pH has been considered, demonstrating the capacity for this screening sensor to be utilized across a variety of sample matrices, which would be useful for future toxicological investigations. This approach represents a proof-of-concept for a novel, simple robust screening method over the concentration range ∼2.20–564 μM for synthetic cathinones (differing slightly for each cathinone) based on their electrochemical responses, thereby streamlining the forensic detection process effectively.