U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
                            Funding & Awards
 Development of Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometric and Multivariate Statistical Analysis Methods for Rapid High Throughput Analysis and Identification of Psychotropic Plant Species
Award Information
Awardee
              The Research Foundation for The SUNY, University at Albany
Award #
              2015-DN-BX-K057
Funding Category
              Competitive
Location
                    Albany, NY
Awardee County
              Albany
Congressional District
              20
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2015
Total funding (to date)
              $688,158
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY 15 Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2015, $688,158)
In 2014, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that the number of new psychoactive substances including synthetic as well as plant-based products on the global market more than doubled over the period 2009  2013. These abused substances include prescription drugs, synthetics such as cannabinoids and cathinones, and whole plant products. Law enforcement efforts to address the manufacture, sale and use of these substances, such as chemical precursor control measures and the scheduling of synthetic psychotropics, have had positive albeit modest impacts on the problem. However, these approaches have had little effect on the increasing use of plant-based psychotropics, such as the 20 species identified by the UNODC as drugs of concern (DOC). This is because: (1) the plants are readily available through internet commerce; (2) many of the plants have alternative uses, such as in landscaping as ornamentals; (3) the plant foliage is not generally recognized and therefore it is challenging for law enforcement to visually identify the plants in a forensic context; (4) standard well-established analytical methods (such as GC-MS and LC-MS) that are useful in the identification of purified abused substances are time consuming to perform on whole plant material and/or have not been developed for analysis of whole plant products; (5) it is impractical to develop standard protocols for the large number of plants of abuse; and (6) there is generally no statistical reporting of the level of certainty of a positive identification of a particular plant drug. This combination of factors makes it challenging to legislate the manufacture, sale and abuse of plant drugs. We have proposed that these challenges can be overcome through the application of high throughput ambient ionization mass spectrometric methods such as direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) for the analysis of whole plant material. The processing of the acquired data by multivariate statistical methods exploits the uniqueness of the characteristic mass spectral fingerprint of each plant species to yield statistical levels of probability of the plants identity. Furthermore, this provides the opportunity for the creation of a database of abused plants that can be used to rapidly identify plant products in a forensic scene context. We demonstrate the proof of principle with several of the UNODC-identified DOCs, including Kratom, Datura spp., Salvia spp., and Kava among other plants.

This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.

ca/ncf



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      DART-HRMS triage approach part 2 – Application to the detection of cannabinoids and terpenes in recreational Cannabis products
                  DART-MS Facilitated Quantification of Cannabinoids in Complex Edible Matrices-Focus on Chocolates and Gelatin-Based Fruit Candies
                  Combined ambient ionization mass spectrometric and chemometric approach for the differentiation of hemp and marijuana varieties of Cannabis sativa
                  Rapid Detection and Quantification of Hallucinogenic Salvinorin A in Commercial Salvia divinorum Products DART-HRMS
                  Introducing "DoPP": A Graphical User-Friendly Application for the Rapid Species Identification of Psychoactive Plant Materials and Quantification of Psychoactive Small Molecules Using DART-MS Data
                  DART-HRMS as a triage approach for the rapid analysis of cannabinoid-infused edible matrices, personal-care products and Cannabis sativa hemp plant material
                  Introducing “DoPP”: A Graphical User-Friendly Application for the Rapid Species Identification of Psychoactive Plant Materials and Quantification of Psychoactive Small Molecules Using DART-MS Data
                  Workflow for the Supervised Learning of Chemical Data: Efficient Data Reduction-Multivariate Curve Resolution (EDR-MCR)
                  Development of Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometric and Multivariate Statistical Analysis Methods for Rapid High Throughput Forensic Analysis and Identification of Psychotropic Plants
                  Identification of the Species Constituents of Maggot Populations Feeding on Decomposing Remains -- Facilitation of the Determination of Post Mortem Interval and Time Since Tissue Infestation Through Application of Machine Learning and Direct Analysis in R
                  An Efficient Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometric Approach to Detection and Quantification of the Mescaline Content of Commonly Abused Cacti from the Echinopsis Genus
                  Detection and Quantification of Psychoactive N,N-Dimethyltryptamine in Ayahuasca Brews by Ambient Ionization High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry
                  Simultaneous Imaging of Latent Fingermarks and Detection of Analytes of Forensic Relevance by Laser Ablation Direct Analysis in Real Time Imaging-Mass Spectrometry (LADI-MS)
                  A chemometric strategy for forensic analysis of condom residues Identification and marker profiling of condom brands from direct analysis in real time-high resolution mass spectrometric chemical signatures
                  Call it a "nightshade"-A hierarchical classification approach to identification of hallucinogenic Solanaceae spp. using DART-HRMS-derived chemical signatures
                  Random Forest Processing of Direct Analysis in Real-Time Mass Spectrometric Data Enables Species Identification of Psychoactive Plants From Their Headspace Chemical Signatures
                  Rapid detection and validated quantification of psychoactive compounds in complex plant matrices by direct analysis in real time-high resolution mass spectrometry - Application to "Kava" psychoactive pepper products
                  Identification and Classification of Cathinone Unknowns by Statistical Analysis Processing of Direct Analysis in Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry-Derived "Neutral Loss" Spectra
                  A Rapid, High-Throughput Validated Method for the Quantification of Atropine in Datura stramonium Seeds Using Direct Analysis in Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (DART-HRMS)
                  Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass Spectrometry and Kohonen Artificial Neural Networks for Species Identification of Larva, Pupa and Adult Life Stages of Carrion Insects
                  Utilizing Direct Analysis in Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry-Derived Dark Matter Spectra to Classify and Identify Unknown Synthetic Cathinones
                  Development of "Laser Ablation Direct Analysis in Real Time Imaging" Mass Spectrometry: Application to Spatial Distribution Mapping of Metabolites Along the Biosynthetic Cascade Leading to Synthesis of Atropine and Scopolamine in Plant Tissue
                  Rapid Species-level Identification of Salvias by Chemometric Processing of Ambient Ionisation Mass Spectrometry-derived Chemical Profiles
                  Application of Ambient Ionization High Resolution Mass Spectrometry to Determination of the Botanical Provenance of the Constituents of Psychoactive Drug Mixtures
                  Direct analysis in real time high resolution mass spectrometry as a tool for rapid characterization of mind-altering plant materials and revelation of supplement adulteration - The case of Kanna
                  Rapid High-throughput Species Identification of Botanical Material Using Direct Analysis in Real Time High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

  
Date Created: September 22, 2015
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              Current Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Forthcoming Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Expired Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
    
      
            
            
            
      Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
    
      
            
            
            
      Fellowship & Student Programs
    
      
            
            
            
      Travel Scholarships
    
      
            
            
            
      NIJ Challenge ProgramSimilar Awards
        
                      A Whole Community Approach to Hate Crime Reduction: Research to Improve Prevention, Reporting, and Victim Support
                  Impact of Relic DNA on Forensic Microbiome Applications in Criminal Investigations
                  Evaluation of the Luxon Ion Source for Rapid Screening in Forensic Laboratories
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov