Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have created a groundbreaking way to detect dangerous opioids like fentanyl and even deadlier drugs called nitazenes. These drugs are often made in illegal labs, which tweak their formulas to dodge current drug detection methods. The changes make it harder for police and health experts to know what they’re dealing with and to stop these drugs quickly.

PNNL’s researchers have found a way to identify these drugs—even if they’ve never been seen before. They use two advanced tools that work together to study the drugs at a molecular level. This system helps uncover unique chemical features that reveal whether a substance is fentanyl, nitazene, or something else entirely. “People who make these drugs are always a step ahead, creating new versions quicker than we can detect them,” said Kabrena Rodda, a forensic toxicologist at PNNL. “We need to be just as fast to keep up.”

This technology looks for key chemical markers in these substances, much like identifying a person through details like height, hair colour, and build. It’s a major improvement on current methods, which only compare drugs to those already in a database. “The more details we have about a drug, the better we can identify it,” said Adam Hollerbach, the lead researcher.

While this system takes about an hour to analyse each sample—too long for emergency use—it could be a huge help in forensic labs, where accurate identification is crucial. This is especially important as nitazenes, which are 20 times more powerful than fentanyl, become more common.

Funded by PNNL’s research programme, the team’s work is part of a larger effort to stay ahead in the fight against synthetic opioids. Their innovation could help experts prevent new and harmful drugs from spreading, potentially saving lives in the fight against the opioid crisis.

Source: news wise