HarmReducer
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microencapsulation of marquis reagent and others
hello sciencemaddness! ive been reading through the threads on this site for as long as I can remember and now I finally have an idea that I think
yall can help me with!
short question: im looking for a cheap DIY method for microencapsulating reactive chemicals at home for a prototype im making. possibly with silicone.
im very concerned with harm reduction especially when it comes to the taboos such as drug use, prostitution, casual sex (pill testing, legalization,
PreEP). Ive come up with an idea to help save hundreds if not more lives a year. I don't want to go into much detail besides to state that the product
will be given out for free to low cost at festivals, clubs and raves in order for people to safely test suspect pills, predominantly MDMA/MDA,
hopefully deterring the use of dangerous unknown club drugs. as you may know, drug testing is extremely important as there are many adulterated pills
that kill unsuspecting young people. potency is an issue id like to incorporate into this but that's for later.im not advocating for drug use or
asking anything about drugs on this site.
my question for you, there are several reagents that are commonly used in testing, im trying to figure out how to encapsulate the reagents in a stable
way so that they can be sprayed onto an abrasive surface. im hoping to patent this so sorry if im skimping on the details. the most common reagent is
marquis which is "100 mL of concentrated (95–98%) sulfuric acid to 5 mL of 40% formaldehyde." - wiki (lol)
other reagents include mecke, mandolin and simon.
the formed capsule will need to be sensitive enough to break when pressure is applied, spilling their contents similar to scratch and sniff stickers,
but strong enough to not break from light rubbing, light moisture or uv light.
considering the reactivity of the compounds, im thinking silicone is the most unreactive material I can easily use. any advice here? I don't trust
alginate will hold up to these chems, perhaps im wrong?
as for as how the capsules are produced. ideally the finished product will be composed of capsules made by a professional company with lots of
experience. for now I need to make a prototype that I can use for demonstrations and potentially for a kickstarter (dream on kid)...
Of the methods ive seen for encapsulation pan and air coating requires a solid core, centrifugal extrusion requires special equipment as does
vibrational nozzle and spray drying.
ionotropic gelation looks very doable as a DIY but again im not sure if alginate will react with these chemicals.
I imagine there is a method where a carrier fluid has the reagent added, silicone is added to that and a mixing blade will break the suspension up
into individual spheres containing the reagent. perhaps uv light would then be used to harden the uv reactive silicone?
this is not my field of study, im a biologist that likes to dabble with chemistry.
there are soooo many different methods of microencapsulation but im having trouble finding a method with silicone that I can do at home for a low
cost. any help that can push me in the right direction of procedures would be great. most of what I find cost $30 to read the full article with out
knowing the contents...
thanks!
[Edited on 22-10-2016 by HarmReducer]
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MeshPL
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I'm not a specialist on microencapsulation, but there are some (minor yet important) problems with what you want to do:
-some reagents will degrade over time. You will need 2 separate pills for marquis and solomon's reagents, with the contents mixed just before the
test.
-those reagents are dangerous. You don't want any one to poison themselves or burn their skin. While perfectly safe in the lab with a little safety
precautions, not many people carry gloves to the clubs to squeeze the sulfuric acid out of a silicone pills without burning themselves. Also wouldn't
sqeezing spray the chemicals around?
-you can acces most research papers semi-legally via www.sci-hub.cc .
-theese reagents are not specific. Do you know how each of the hundred compound which can be found in suspicious pills stains each of the reagents.
Which compounds react simmilarily? Differently? What colors do they produce? Which are safe, and which are dangerous?
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brubei
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Why dont you use already marketed products, they are ealy cheap
http://testkitplus.com/product/complete-screening-kit-marqui...
You can also trap your solid in a pipette. Solid pressed in a pipette won't go out then u just have to draw up liquid in it to dissolve and release
the solution in vial.
1-liquid reagent
2-Vial
3-solid reagent
4-pipette
5-bulb
Capillary containing fluid or solid, then melted at its extremities is easy to break too
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HarmReducer
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[Edited on 23-10-2016 by HarmReducer]
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j_sum1
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Interesting diagnostic idea. It has potential if you can get it to work. The concept could have an enormous range of applications.
Having said that, I take issue with your philosophical stance. I would dispute that supplying users with diagnostic tools is the best intervention
point for minimising the individual and societal damage caused by drugs.
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CuReUS
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its not only his stance,its the govt's too 
| Quote: | | The primary use of the marquis reagent in the United States is by law enforcement as a field test for the presence of amphetamine and opiates. It's
only within the past three years that they have started to be marketed to the public as a harm reduction tool. |
https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_faq_testing_kits....
HR,your idea is good.I hope you get the patent.
Btw,instead of putting the reagents inside capsules,why not impregnate them into resin or silica ?
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j_sum1
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Well i am not going to discuss the politics of it all here. Suffice to say that there are many effective drug programs out there.
What intrigues me is the idea of making a diagnostic tool through microencapslation and printing on a card. I see multiple applications. In the
field of drug analysis I think that law enforcement agencies are likely to be interested. Border security agencies also. But there are multiple
other fields.
Medicine might be interested in this idea as a diagnostic tool. Particularly helpful in remote, third world or refugee
situations if cheap accurate analysis could be done by swiping a blood sample over a pre-printed card.
Forensics and crime scene investigators might find applications.
Agricuture -- smear a soil sample or a sample of your produce and find out what is going on. Also could be good in remote or third world
applications
In-the-field testing -- such as for marine biology
There are probably many more. Nail the microencapsulation and the field is wide open. I think moderating the behaviour of gen-Y clubbers is small
fry compared with what could be done.
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HarmReducer
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[Edited on 23-10-2016 by HarmReducer]
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aga
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The most effective way to get a patent is through a patent attourney.
It is possible to attempt it yourself, however if there are any holes in it, you may as well not bother.
Basically a patent is a weapon with which you defend your $.
Not a good idea going into a fight with a broken weapon.
P.S. how did you manage to make this thread span 10 screen-widths horizontally ?
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DJF90
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Quote: Originally posted by HarmReducer  |
im going to be more clear about what my actual idea is, clear up some confusion, please dont steal my idea, im working on figuring out how to patent
it... any advice on that would be great.
[Edited on 22-10-2016 by HarmReducer] |
Sorry to burst your bubble but this is technically pre-disclosure and so the idea is unpatentable. You need to patent it before it enters the public
domain, not afterwards.
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HarmReducer
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oh my time to delete this thread. mods if you will? thanks everyone
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aga
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If you're serious about a patent, just go and delete your posts - no need to bother
a moderator.
Click Edit, then there 's a 'Delete this message!' tick box.
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HarmReducer
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Though I have very little funding for it, yes I'm very serious about producing a working model of my idea and having it patented. I really want to see
these cards all over the music scene ASAP. I can only delete the comments I made after the first post :/
I contacted inventhelp, just because they are the first result and Google and I've been seeing their cheesy commercials as long as I can remember. If
this thread isn't out right deleted, I'll go ahead and only post from here on out with actual CHEMISTRY discussion, this isn't the forum for
discussing patent law etc.
I really am liking the sound of using uv reactive silicone stirred into a beaker of the reagent and a solvent , dispersed into very small globules
with a mixing blade and then hit with uv. If mods don't want to delete this, I'll post some papers I find etc.
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