Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that was developed to help treat pain in cancer patients. It is 80-100 times stronger than morphine, and just touching even just a pinch of fentanyl can be fatal. In 2017 there were more than 28,000 fatal fentanyl overdoses in the United States. Often, other drugs like heroin or cocaine are laced with fentanyl, and it is vital to be able to test a substance in the field to determine what it is.
Scientists have now developed a new tool that can identify smaller concentrations of drug powders than previous technology could. The new tool is smaller and portable. It can help law enforcement accurately identify substances in the field. Researchers Christoffer Abrahamsson and Michael Fink named their new device, Magneto-Archimedes Levitation (or MagLev). MagLev works by separating substances based on density and is about the size of a thermos. It has two magnets at the top and bottom of a clear container. Inside the container is a magnetic solution that pushes foreign objects like bubbles, sugar, or heroin into neat layers. Says Fink, “If the liquid wants to be as close as possible to the magnets, then the other stuff has to get out of the way."
By shaking everything up, each substance floats at a certain height, which is based on its density. "Try to shake a glass of honey and then watch the air bubbles rise," said Fink. "Sometimes they just stay put." In order to isolate fentanyl, which is an exceptionally fine powder, the scientists invented a new liquid for the glass chamber, which is capable of separating substances with more varied densities.
There are field tests for substances, called colorimetric tests, which turn green, blue, or yellow depending on the chemicals detected and they can quickly identify a single substance. But if two substances are mixed, like fentanyl and heroin, these tests have a hard time. The colors blend into a murky color that comes up as inconclusive.
In October of 2018, Bozenko hosted Abrahamsson at the DEA for three days. Together, the two chemists fed MagLev its first illegal powders: "We started out with fentanyl. That was our main target because it is one of the biggest problems right now, and it just worked directly, levitated directly," Abrahamsson said. "It was almost too good to be true."
So far, MagLev can separate up to seven different substances at one time, but the scientists are convinced that their tool can handle even more. This tool is a real breakthrough for law enforcement because most street drugs are a blend of two or more substances, so MagLev can really fill a gap in the field.
The study is published in Angewandte Chemie.