The evaluation of dual laser handheld raman spectroscopy for identifying novel psychoactive substances

Novel psychoactive substances have been increasing over the last decade with more than 450 derivatives available on the market. The issue with novel psychoactive substances is much more complicated than their effects/side effects. Hence, these substances often contain mixtures of pharmacologically active/inactive impurities which interfere with their effects. The accelerated development of these substances (at a rate above once a week) urges the need to develop rapid and mobile techniques for their characterisation. Handheld Raman spectroscopy offers the advantage of being quick, nondestructive and specific to chemical entities within the measured analyte. One issue with the Raman signatures of analytes is associated with several variables including the laser wavelength that could be shorter (such as 532 785 nm) or longer wavelength lasers (such as 833 - 1064 nm). Using a longer wavelength laser decreases the fluorescence of the sample, but decreases peak resolution and thus limits the sensitivity of detection. Uptoour knowledge the use of dual laser wavelength for identifying novel psychoactive substances has not been explored. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate the use of dual laser handheld Raman spectroscopy for identifying novel psychoactive substances