Towards the Electrochemical Detection of Cannabis Drugs in Human Saliva

摘要

With the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada, the sensitive and selective detection of Δ~9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in human saliva in a point-of-contact sensor is of great interest, with electrochemical detection having the potential to provide rapid, reliable, and low cost road-side testing capabilities. THC contains a phenol group and is believed to undergo electro-oxidation by a similar mechanism as has been reported for phenols (1-3). Other groups have developed methods to analyze THC electrochemically. Balbino et al. (1, 2, 4), have analyzed the drug in organic electrolyte solutions to overcome the challenges of the poor solubility of THC, while the Compton group developed a carbon paste electrode system that adsorbs the drug from sample solution, followed by square wave voltammetry measurements in aqueous solutions (3).