{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T16:12:55Z","timestamp":1784304775055,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,15]],"date-time":"2019-08-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1565827200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Justice, Republic of China (Taiwan)","award":["108-1301-05-17-05"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["108-1301-05-17-05"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Screening of illicit drugs for new psychoactive substances\u2014namely cathinone\u2014at crime scenes is in high demand. A dual-emission bovine serum albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters probe was synthesized and used for quantitation and screening of 4-chloromethcathinone and cathinone analogues in an aqueous solution. The photoluminescent (PL) color of the bovine serum albumin-stabilized Au nanoclusters (BSA-Au NCs) probe solution changed from red to dark blue during the identification of cathinone drugs when excited using a portable ultraviolet light-emitting diodes lamp (365 nm). This probe solution allows the PL color-changing point and limit of detection down to 10.0 and 0.14 mM, respectively, for 4-chloromethcathinone. The phenomenon of PL color-changing of BSA-Au NCs was attributed to its PL band at 650 nm, quenching through an electron transfer mechanism. The probe solution was highly specific to cathinone drugs, over other popular illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine, ketamine, and methamphetamine. The practicality of this BSA-Au NCs probe was assessed by using it to screen illicit drugs seized by law enforcement officers. All 20 actual cases from street and smuggling samples were validated using this BSA-Au NCs probe solution and then confirmed using gas chromatography\u2013mass spectrometry. The results reveal this BSA-Au NCs probe solution is practical for screening cathinone drugs at crime scenes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s19163554","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,15]],"date-time":"2019-08-15T11:11:00Z","timestamp":1565867460000},"page":"3554","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["A Photoluminescent Colorimetric Probe of Bovine Serum Albumin-Stabilized Gold Nanoclusters for New Psychoactive Substances: Cathinone Drugs in Seized Street Samples"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Yao-Te","family":"Yen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Xindian District, New Taipei City 23149, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ting-Yueh","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Xindian District, New Taipei City 23149, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chun-Yu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chi-Lun","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Xindian District, New Taipei City 23149, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"San-Chong","family":"Chyueh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Xindian District, New Taipei City 23149, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huan-Tsung","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) (2018). 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