Abstract
Background: Fentanyl is an opioid analgesic drug extensively used to alleviate pain with no consciousness loss. To address the fentanyl crisis from the criminal and medical perspectives,the development of a free drug determination methodology for this drug is crucial.
Methods: A fluorescent nanoprobe based on copper sulfide nanoparticles (CuS NPs) is developed for the determination of fentanyl in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). NPs are synthesized according to a hydrothermal method and their size and morphology are characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR), and TEM. The fluorescence intensity of the nanoprobe is enhanced in the presence of fentanyl. The affinity of CuS NPs to complex formation with fentanyl results in blocking non-radiative e−/h+recombination defect sites on the surface of NPs and consequently enhancing the signal intensity. One at a time optimization method was used for the optimization of reaction conditions.
Results: Under the optimized conditions, a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.008 µg mL-1 was obtained for fentanyl determination. Furthermore, a linear relationship is found between the analytical response and the concentration of fentanyl in the range of 0.01-2.0 µg mL-1 with a relative standard deviation of<2.5%.
Conclusion: The validated method is applied for the determination of fentanyl in the EBC of patients receiving fentanyl treatment.