BarcelonaIn one out of three sexual assaults that take place in Spain, the victim has suffered chemical submission. Now a group of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) has taken an important step so that in the near future there will be a tool that allows you to easily detect if someone has introduced drugs into a drink.
The team of scientists has developed a new sensor that can detect in less than five minutes the presence of scopolamine, a liquid substance informally known as burundanga and which is one of the most used in crimes of chemical subjugation and especially in sexual assaults. If the sensor detects the presence of this drug, it causes the drink contaminated with scopolamine to become fluorescent.
The results of the research have been published in the journal Applied Chemistry International Edition and the sensor is already patented. The CIBER for Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), the Prince Felip Research Center (CIPF), the Jaume I University (UJI) and the La Fe Health Research Institute of Valencia have also participated in the research.
The researcher of the Interuniversity Institute of Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM) of the UPV, Vicente Martí, explains that “scopolamine is a difficult substance to detect with conventional methods, especially when it is found in drinks”. For this reason, the group of scientists set out to “develop new simple tools that allow us to warn of their presence immediately”.
As detailed by the director of the IDM, Ramón Martínez Máñez, the operation of the new sensor is very simple: when the drug comes into contact with the sensor, a reaction occurs that releases a fluorescent substance. As he describes, this mechanism “generates a very clear light signal” and, moreover, its intensity is proportional to the amount of scopolamine that has been introduced into the drink. “The more scopolamine there is, the more fluorescent the signal becomes, which makes it possible not only to detect its presence, but also to estimate its amount. And all this in less than five minutes,” the researcher emphasizes.
A box that captures molecules
The sensor devised by UPV researchers is based on a “molecular box”, a chemical structure designed to recognize and capture specific molecules. In this case, this device has been designed to interact with and capture scopolamine in a highly selective manner. The researchers explain that their system has a sophisticated chemical design that allows the sensor to detect very low amounts of the drug, making it “particularly useful for the rapid analysis of suspect substances, both in preventive contexts and after a potential assault.”
Now the UPV team is working to be able to develop a device that incorporates this sensor to detect scopolamine in substances such as drinks, urine or saliva. In addition, researchers are also developing similar sensors for the detection of other drugs.
