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Researchers develop convenient tests for detecting cocaine
A professor and students at Florida International University (FIU) are seeking to arm law enforcement officers with convenient tests to confirm the presence of cocaine.
FIU chemist Yi Xiao and her students have patented a series of tests, in which a liquid solution that they developed can be mixed with an individual's saliva or with a powder reseembling cocaine. If cocaine is present in the tested sample, it will glow under a blue light in seconds, according to a news release from the university. This one-step process could prove much less expensive and time-consuming than traditional testing methods for detecting the presence of cocaine.
“We're trying to detect a grain of cocaine dissolved in a swimming pool,” explained FIU biochemistry PhD student Haixiang Yu.
The professor and her students have published details of the technology in the journal Analytical Chemistry. They are now working to license and commercialize the tests.
