Rapid analysis of street drugs and structural identification of unknown compounds

Benchtop NMR is an extremely power technique for the identification of small molecules. Most illicit substances fall into this category. By combing benchtop NMR with a database of illicit substances we have shown that rapid analysis with a high degree of certainty is possible. We will also discuss how this technology has been used to support on the ground police and prison services.

By the end of the webinar you will have learnt:

• What type of samples benchtop NMR can analyse
• How databases can allow rapid analysis of substances for novice users
• How this technique can be deployed in the field
• How benchtop NMR can also be used to identify new compounds for forensic applications

Panelists

Dr James Sagar, Strategic Product Manager at Oxford Instruments. James as been strategic product manager to benchtop NMR at Oxford Instruments since January 2019. James joined Oxford Instruments in 2015 after performing post-doctoral research at University College London.

Dr Oliver Sutcliffe, Director of MANDRAKE and Senior Lecturer in Psychopharmaceutical Chemistry at Manchester Metropolitan University Oliver has twenty years research experience in pharmaceutical chemistry in both an academic and industrial environment. His interests lie principally in the synthesis and detection new psychoactive substances. His recent work has focused on the development of new technologies for the detection of drugs including synthetic cannabinoids (or Spice).