Zamri, Nur Shahida Mohamad
(2020)
Colorimetric screening of mitragynine in biological and non- biological sample matrices for detection of forensic drugs.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
New psychoactive substances (NPS) can be defined as the substance of abuse or been
known as 'legal high' or 'bath salts' according to the United Nation on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC). Listed as NPS, mitragynine is a compound that has the opioid type
properties that are present in Mitragyna speciosa plant or also known locally as ketum
plant. Ketum' is a plant in the coffee family plant native to Southeast Asia including
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Burma. Generally, this study focuses on
investigating mitragynine colour reaction towards Van Urk reagent in biological and
non-biological samples by visual observation and spectrophotometric analysis. Colour
test with Van Urk reagent and colorimetric analyses (mobile application and
microplate reader spectrophotometer) were conducted for detection of mitragynine in
various sample matrices (biological and non-biological). The detection of mitragynine
from decoction, concoction and powder (non-biological) samples with Van Urk
reagent produced a fast and successful reaction of colour change to pink. However, as
for biological sample such as urine, direct detection using Van Urk reagent shown
inconclusive result which there was no apparent of pink colour change. Extraction
needs to be performed on biological samples, precisely urine sample in order to
produce a better result. To summarise, the colorimetric analysis of multiple-sample
measurement using a smartphone a detector was not ideal. RGB values that measured
was not consistent even though the standardised image capture system was built to
capture the image of all the samples. Furthermore, spectrometric analysis using
microplate reader spectrophotometer also did not convey satisfactory result.
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