SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Opioids, especially synthetic opioids, are a constant threat to the safety of civilian first responders; there are now serious concerns about their use in modern chemical warfare. Fentanyl and its many analogues (carfentanil, remifentanil, lofentanil, mefentanil, sufentanil, etc.) are extremely hazardous—if ingested or inhaled, many synthetic opioids cause lethal intoxication with only a few grains of material (milligram to microgram quantities). There is a critical unmet need to identify synthetic opioids on surfaces with a simple and straightforward eye-readable colorimetric detection spray. Most identification kits that can provide presumptive detection in the field require corrosive chemistries that cannot be safely applied to surfaces and require multiple manipulation steps. Furthermore, most of these colorimetric detection methods can only indicate the presence of a few specific opioids. Clear Scientific will partner with a premier expert in synthetic molecular recognition, Prof. Lyle Isaacs, at the University of Maryland, to design, synthesize, and formulate an eye-readable colorimetric opioid indicator spray that detects a broad spectrum of synthetic opioids to the nanogram level.
