Issue 1, 2016

Forensic electrochemistry: simultaneous voltammetric detection of MDMA and its fatal counterpart “Dr Death” (PMA)

Abstract

The simultaneous detection of substances present in drugs of abuse is increasingly important since some materials are known for their high mortality rate. One drug that received considerable attention is para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA), commonly known as ‘Dr Death’ – this substance is linked with several deaths internationally and can often be found together with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in drugs sold under the alias “ecstasy”, a very popular drug of abuse. This work reports for the first time the detection and quantification of MDMA and PMA simultaneously through an electrochemical technique using screen-printed graphite electrodes (SPEs). The electroanalytical sensing of MDMA/PMA, MDMA and PMA are explored directly at bare unmodified SPEs yielding a detection limit (3σ) corresponding to 0.25 μg mL−1/0.14 μg mL−1 for MDMA/PMA, 0.04 μg mL−1 MDMA and 0.03 μg mL−1 PMA. Raman spectroscopy and presumptive colour tests were also performed on MDMA/PMA, MDMA and PMA using the Marquis, Mandelin, Simon's and Robadope tests but were found to not be able discriminate when PMA and MDMA are both present in the same samples. We report a novel electrochemical protocol for the sensing of PMA and MDMA which is independently validated in a synthetic (MDMA/PMA) sample with HPLC.

Graphical abstract: Forensic electrochemistry: simultaneous voltammetric detection of MDMA and its fatal counterpart “Dr Death” (PMA)

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Nov. 2015
Accepted
06 Nov. 2015
First published
13 Nov. 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Anal. Methods, 2016,8, 142-152

Forensic electrochemistry: simultaneous voltammetric detection of MDMA and its fatal counterpart “Dr Death” (PMA)

L. R. Cumba, J. P. Smith, K. Y. Zuway, O. B. Sutcliffe, D. R. do Carmo and C. E. Banks, Anal. Methods, 2016, 8, 142 DOI: 10.1039/C5AY02924D

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