The excessive prescription of benzodiazepines is putting more people at risk of dependence on these drugs and is exacerbating the fatal overdose toll of opioids. A rapid and sensitive SERS method has been developed for trace detection of select benzodiazepines in low-dosage suspect counterfeit tablets, capsules, and injectable solutions using two different portable handheld Raman spectrometers equipped with either a 785-nm laser or a 1064-nm laser. A total of 169 samples and blanks were examined using five handheld Raman spectrometers, which provided data set of 729 examinations. The extraction/SERS procedures yielded true positive rates above 90% for alprazolam, diazepam, and midazolam using the 1064-nm device and yielded true positive rates above 95% for alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, estazolam, midazolam, and temazepam using the 785-nm device; however, the extraction/SERS procedures yielded true positive rates below 60% for lorazepam and triazolam. The minimum concentration (Cmin ) of the benzodiazepine standards that reproducibly yielded a positive match ranged from 1 to 10 μg/ml using the 1064-nm laser device and from 0.5 to 50 μg/ml using the 785-nm laser device. For the analysis of authentic and suspect counterfeit tablets containing these benzodiazepines, the measured Cmin ranged between 10 and 15 µg per tablet or capsule for 1064-nm laser device and 1-100 µg per tablet or capsule for 785-nm laser device. The developed methods are simple, rapid, and ideal for screening suspect benzodiazepine-containing pharmaceutical products at satellite laboratories located within or near international mail facilities and express courier hubs.
Keywords: benzodiazepines; counterfeit pharmaceuticals; handheld SERS; trace drug analysis.
Published 2021. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.