title: Optimization of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Conditions for Implementation into a Microfluidic Device for Drug Detection.
abstract: A microfluidic device is being developed by University of California-Santa Barbara as part of a joint effort with the United States Army to develop a portable, rapid drug detection device. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is used to provide a sensitive, selective detection technique within the microfluidic platform employing metallic nanoparticles as the SERS medium. Using several illicit drugs as analytes, the work presented here describes the efforts of the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center to optimize the microfluidic platform by investigating the role of nanoparticle material, nanoparticle size, excitation wavelength, and capping agents on the performance, and drug concentration detection limits achievable with Ag and Au nanoparticles that will ultimately be incorporated into the final design. This study is particularly important as it lays out a systematic comparison of limits of detection and potential interferences from working with several nanoparticle capping agents-such as tannate, citrate, and borate-which does not seem to have been done previously as the majority of studies only concentrate on citrate as the capping agent. Morphine, cocaine, and methamphetamine were chosen as test analytes for this study and were observed to have limits of detection (LOD) in the range of (1.5-4.7) × 10-8M (4.5-13 ng/mL), with the borate capping agent having the best performance.
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States.
authors.forename: Neal D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Kline
authors.affiliation: Research and Technology Directorate, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-5424, United States.
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California-Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
authors.forename: Rustin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mirsafavi
authors.affiliation: Excet, Inc., Springfield, Virginia 22150, United States.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pardoe
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California-Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moskovits
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meinhart
authors.affiliation: Research and Technology Directorate, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-5424, United States.
authors.forename: Jason A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Guicheteau
authors.affiliation: Research and Technology Directorate, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-5424, United States.
authors.forename: Steven D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Christesen
authors.affiliation: Research and Technology Directorate, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-5424, United States.
authors.forename: Augustus W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Fountain
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000032:analysis; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000032:analysis; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000032:analysis; D003042:Cocaine / Q000032:analysis; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D057230:Limit of Detection; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000032:analysis; D009020:Morphine / Q000032:analysis; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D012834:Silver; D008694:Methamphetamine; D006046:Gold; D009020:Morphine; D003042:Cocaine