Meth-Detecting Cars, Chewing-Gum Biosensors

Abstract

Rival drug dealers, cheap foreign knockoffs, and the Drug Enforcement Administration are just some of the problems illicit methamphetamine drugmakers need to deal with. Now a research team led by Guido F. Verbeck of the University of North Texas has unleashed drug-sniffing cars to the list of drug kingpin headaches (Anal. Chem. 2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b03269). These vehicular bloodhounds incorporate a portable mass spectrometry system within a Ford Fusion for covert detection of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. “Most meth is sold on the street as soon as it is made, so the key is to measure aromatic precursors and by-products,” Verbeck says. Verbeck’s team uses a mock mobile home park they call Crime Scene City for real-world testing of the system. The scientists heat a stew of methamphetamine chemicals on a hot plate inside an empty mobile home bathroom and then use their car-mounted mass spec to locate the meth brew. “People ...