Advanced optical waveguide biosensors for the detection of illicit drugs and explosives

海洛因、可卡因和快克可卡因现在被认为是西方社会不得不面对的最容易上瘾的毒品。在美国的市中心地区，现在在欧洲，非法毒品正在造成前所未有的暴力浪潮和社会混乱。在过去几年中，英国境内隐藏的非法药物进口急剧增加，这一影响促使人们对目前检测此类滥用药物的技术进行了严格的评估。非法毒品、爆炸物、新技术和专业知识的扩散增加了毒品走私者和恐怖分子逃避我们在英国出入境口岸现有对策的可能性。目前侦查非法毒品和爆炸物的方法还有很多不足之处。为了允许在“现场”进行分析，迫切需要开发改进的现场测试。为了应对这一挑战，我们的目标是开发新型廉价传感器，以快速有效地检测颗粒药物和爆炸物。我们已经确定了对非法药物和爆炸物具有高活性和特异性的微生物酶，并表明这些酶可以用作传感器中的识别成分。酶催化过程自然发生在水环境中；然而，水的存在远非理想的传感器，因为它必须长时间暴露在空气中，因为它往往会蒸发。因此，我们建议探索离子液体（在室温下熔融的盐）作为光波导传感器的替代介质的潜力。室温离子液体（RTILs）具有一系列使其成为理想溶剂的特性，例如零蒸汽压和被归类为环境友好型。我们最近设计并创造了新一代功能化离子液体，它增加了拟水（类水）性能，但保留了传统RTILs的所有优点。使用这些RTILs，我们已经证明，在非常低的水水平（低于100 ppm）下，可以用复杂的（需要辅助因子的）酶获得酶催化；这在以前使用传统的BMIm pf6相关RTILs是不可能的。这些设计RTILs的巨大潜力引起了生物技术、制药和化学工业的极大兴奋，导致其生产的商业化。这些新型功能化离子液体，连同适当的酶和试剂，将作为薄膜波导沉积在低成本的模压聚合物器件上。我们建议利用Dstl、PSDB、RTIL生产商Bioniqs有限公司与酶学、离子液体化学和传感器技术专业学者组成的多学科团队之间的独特合作，开发一种商业上可行的基于酶的手持式原型生物传感器，用于检测颗粒非法药物和烈性炸药。

Heroin, cocaine and 'crack' cocaine are now considered to be the most powerfully addictive drugs Western society has ever had to confront. In the inner city areas of the United States, and now in Europe, illicit drugs are generating an unprecedented wave of violence and social disruption. The impact of the dramatic increase in the importation of concealed illicit drugs into the UK over the last few years has prompted a critical appraisal of current technology for the detection of such drugs of abuse. The proliferation of illicit drugs, explosives, new technologies, and expertise increases the potential for drug smugglers and terrorists to evade our existing countermeasures at points of entry to and exit from the UK. Present methods for the detection of illicit drugs and explosives leave much to be desired. To allow analysis to occur in the 'field' there is an urgent need for the development of improved on-site testing. To address this challenge, we are aiming to develop novel inexpensive sensors to rapidly and effectively detect particulate drugs and explosives. We have identified microbial enzymes that have high activity and specificity towards illicit drugs and explosives and have shown that these enzymes can be used as recognition components in sensors. Enzyme catalysed processes naturally occur in aqueous (water-based) environments; however, the presence of water is far from ideal in a sensor that has to be exposed to air for long periods of time, because it tends to evaporate. We are therefore proposing to explore the potential for ionic liquids (salts that are molten at room temperature) as alternative media for optical waveguide sensors. Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) possess a range of properties that make them desirable solvents, such as zero vapour pressure and being classified as environmentally friendly. We recently designed and created a new generation of functionalized ionic liquids that have increased hydromimetic (water-like) properties yet retain all the advantages of traditional RTILs. Using these RTILs we have shown that it is possible to obtain enzyme catalysis with complex (co-factor requiring) enzymes at very low levels of water (less than 100 ppm); which was previously impossible using the traditional BMIm PF6-related RTILs. The great potential for the use of these designer RTILs has aroused much excitement from biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical industries, leading to the commercialization of their production. These novel funtionalized ionic liquids, along with the appropriate enzymes and reagents will be deposited as thin film wave guides on low-cost moulded polymeric devices. We propose to utilize a unique collaboration between Dstl, PSDB, RTIL producers Bioniqs Ltd., and a multidisciplinary team of academics with expertise in enzymology, ionic liquid chemistry and sensor technologies to develop a commercially viable enzyme-based, prototype handheld biosensor for the detection of particulate illicit drugs and high explosives.