Caballero Agosto, Edwin R.

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    Noninvasive detection of opioids simulants in mail flats using Raman spectroscopy and multivariate analsyis
    (2023-05-12) Caballero Agosto, Edwin R.; Hernández Rivera, Samuel P.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Infante Castillo, Ricardo; Mina Camilde, Nairmen; Department of Chemistry; Isaza Brando, Clara
    Opioid abuse has caused many deaths due to the mu receptors creating addiction and depressing the respiratory system. Limited prescriptions have propelled patients to buy opioids from illegal trafficking that lacks quality control. Due to the recent need for improvements in detecting opioids hidden in international mail, research combining vibrational spectroscopy with chemometrics analysis can potentially fill the gap. A portable (STRam) and handheld (TacticID-1064) spectrometer acquired Raman spectral data to develop a model that can classify if a mail flat contains benzoic acid (BA) as an opioid simulant. The optimal SIMCA model for STRam correctly classified 85% and for TacticID-1064 34% of samples. The STRam SIMCA SG2 model successfully detected BA hidden in M and up to 4 layers of BW with great accuracy and when BA was not present perfectly. In conclusion, this work proves that detecting BA inside mail flats with Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics was successful.