Field screening test for lysergic acid diethylamide

✍ Scribed by James Look

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1967
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 185 KB
• Volume: 56
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3549
• DOI: 10.1002/jps.2600561134

✦ Synopsis

A rapid and sensitive field screening test for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which requires little manipulation and equipment, is described. T h e method is only a presumptive test, and the sample must be taken back to the laboratory for confirmatory tests. (The method is also applicable as a screening test for other psychotomimetic drugs such as dimethyltryptamine, diethyltryptamine, bufotenin, serotonin, and psilocybin.)

HE CLASSICAL Van Urk test is specific for a-or T j3-unsubstituted indoles (1). In the presence of strong acid these indoles condense with p-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde to form colorless, violetred, and blue compounds, the relative amounts depending on the concentration of reagents and the presence or absence of oxidizing agents (1-6). This procedure has been modified to provide a sensitive rapid field screening test for LSD which requires no oxidizing agent other than air. In addition, several observations have been made which support the reaction scheme and structures previously proposed by other workers (2-4).