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Fluorination treatment for extension of reagent test shelf life

Reagent Tests UK has always been committed to making products that people love to use. From the very start, the goal was to run the type of company that people love to do business with, due to the buying experience but also the quality of the products.

While colorimetric laboratory tests have existed for over 100 years, the practise of reagent testing drugs is relatively new and until 2010 there were very few suppliers. Accordingly, there is a relatively small population of knowledgeable people who know about the tests and there are still many improvements to be made in terms of the consumer products.

Given that reagent tests need to undergo a chemical reaction in 1-3 minutes, it’s not surprising that they are highly reactive chemicals. While this makes them very convenient and fast to use, it also means they can react with things that we would prefer them not to. We have used glass bottles for our products since the beginning because even unreactive polyethylene plastic accelerates the degradation of reagents, through slight permeability as well as direct reaction with the reagents themselves.

The plastic at the bottom of this dropper has permanently discoloured due to reaction with the reagent.

However, glass is a hard material to shape and as a result we have always used plastic dropper tips, meaning that a small amount of plastic does still come into contact with the product. This is minimised by storing upright, but still has an effect.

As we’ve grown we’ve looked for ways to improve our products and in late 2018 we had the idea to try making the plastic droppers more chemical resistant using fluorine treatment. We were delighted to find that the treatment increased the shelf life of reagents by 20-40% without any other impact on performance, and started selling reagents in fluorinated bottles in 2019.

The marquis reagent stored for 5 months at room temperature.
The bottle on the left was fluorine treated and has discoloured much less.

Why make this public?

Of course, it’s difficult to claim that your products have a markedly longer shelf life without telling anyone why. We are really proud of our products and naturally we want to be able to show off their quality, so the time has come to reveal another reason why our customers can be happy they chose to buy from us.

Even when we’re not shouting about it, our products are being developed and improved, and this is one of the things that makes it so easy to be proud of our products and easy for our customers to know that they are getting the best value.

As of August, we’re pushing ahead with our next innovation and we know that we only serve some of the thousands who use colorimetric tests worldwide. We believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, and if every testing product is better then testing will slowly start to spread beyond the knowledgeable core of users that currently exist. This in turn will help Reagent Tests UK even if not everyone buys from us and importantly it helps all the people who rely on the results of the fantastic technology that is reagent testing.

Maybe this doesn’t revolutionise the whole scene but short shelf lives are definitely disappointing to customers so we urge our kindred spirits running other companies to investigate fluorinating their bottles, particularly where they are using plastic bottles and droppers.

Technical Notes

We opted for the maximum level of fluorination available. The lowest level did not produce good improvements in shelf life.

Interestingly, the actual plastic itself had an uneven pattern with the mecke reagent (which shows the worst discolouration of all reagents) and although the shelf life was massively improved, the plastic itself seemed almost worse.

The fluorinated dropper is shown on the right in this photo. The plastic displays an uneven pattern after exposure to the mecke reagent.

Written by Guy Jones, MChem

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UK government moves Ethylphenidate to Class B

In a move which will probably not surprise anyone, the UK government has formally stated that it will make ethylphenidate and its related compounds class B drugs. Ethylphenidate gained popularity both as a smart drug used by some students and as a recreational stimulant and is closely related to methylphenidate (ritalin) but has a reduced potency and shorter duration.

Ethylphenidate research chemical packaging
When ethylphenidate was sold legally it was commonly sold “for research purposes only” to avoid medicines legislation.

The ban follows the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), whose role is to perform detailed research into issues relating to drugs for the UK government so that it can make informed decisions about drug policy. The ACMD has done extensive research on ethylphenidate and its analogues, with multiple comments released about their prevalence and harms and on 10th April 2015 it recommended that ethylphenidate should be subject to a “Temporary Class Drug Order” (TCDO), which criminalises import and sale but not possession. The ACMD struggled to find detailed information about the group of compounds and remarked in June 2016 that the TCDO had been very successful in reducing use and that more time was needed for a good decision.

Their research continued until 10th March 2017, when they released their final report recommending the group of compounds should all become Class B substances. This was accompanied by one of their typically detailed research reports, again representing possibly the best collection of knowledge about the compounds that currently exists. The report includes detailed information about the drugs’ activity levels in the brain as well as details about the legal situations in other countries:

Ethylphenidate is controlled in China, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and Turkey. It is also classified under analogue scheduling in the US and Australia.

As well as ethylphenidate, a number of less popular analogues were also covered, perhaps the most interesting being 4-fluoromethylphenidate which was reported to be more potent and be much less compulsive.

The change in the law will come into force on the 31st May and cover the substances listed below. Class B offences could result in up to 5 years for possession or up to 14 years for supply.

 

Common Name Classification
N-Benzyl-ethylphenidate Illegal (UK Class B)
Ethylnaphthidate Illegal (UK Class B)
Ethylphenidate (EPH or EPD) Illegal (UK Class B)
Isopropylphenidate (IPP or IPPH) Illegal (UK Class B)
Methylmorphenate Illegal (UK Class B)
Methylnaphthidate (HDMP-28) Illegal (UK Class B)
Propylphenidate Illegal (UK Class B)
3,4-Dichloroethylphenidate Illegal (UK Class B)
3,4-Dichloromethylphenidate
(3,4-DCMP)
Illegal (UK Class B)
4-Fluoroethylphenidate Illegal (UK Class B)
4-Fluoromethylphenidate Illegal (UK Class B)
4-Methylmethylphenidate (4-MMPH) Illegal (UK Class B)
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UK Government Fully Bans Etizolam and U‑47700

Following advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the Home Office has moved to ban a range of designer sedatives including etizolam, which has gained wide popularity for self-medication of anxiety and the compound U-47700, an opioid which has frightened US media and displayed issues of chemical damage to tissues of very heavy users. You can see our test results for U-47700 here and here.

Reaction of U-47700 with the mandelin reagent

The ACMD’s role is to perform detailed research into issues relating to drugs for the UK government so that it can make informed decisions about drug policy.  On 20 December 2016 it published two of its typically detailed overviews, one dedicated to U-47700 and one on the novel benzodiazepines. These detail various aspects of the drugs usage and distribution patterns and the research allow the ACMD to make recommendations on scheduling.

Although the novel substance market has been all but wiped out by the Psychoactive Substances Act, (which renders anything “psychoactive” illegal to sell or import) Police Scotland has reported that etizolam is being sold as “valium” by street dealers. Benzodiazepines may be used to self medicate anxiety disorders, or recreationally for relaxation and carry significant risk of addiction and dependence, with withdrawals for heavy users potentially being severe enough to be fatal. Police Scotland also reported that there had been an increase in deaths involving etizolam and an 8x increase in people found driving under the influence of the drug since 2015.

The Home Office decided to move directly to full scheduling instead of temporary scheduling as recommended by the ACMD, and on 3rd May 2017, the full legislation was published, to be enforced from 31st May 2017.

This means that etizolam is illegal in the UK as a class C drug with up to 2 years for possession, and U-47700 is illegal in the UK as a Class A drug with up to 7 years for possession.

In a change from constructing a time consuming “blanket ban”, the ACMD also recommended scheduling a long list of other compounds in the same class by their specific names, listed below:

Common Name Classification Chemical name
Adinazolam Illegal (UK Class C) 1-(8-Chloro-6-phenyl-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepin-1-yl)-N,N-dimethylmethanamine
Bromazolam Illegal (UK Class C) 8-bromo-1-methyl-6-phenyl-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine
4’-Chlorodiazepam Illegal (UK Class C) 7-Chloro-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
Clonazolam Illegal (UK Class C) 6-(2-Chlorophenyl)-1-methyl-8-nitro-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4] benzodiazepine
Deschloroetizolam Illegal (UK Class C) 2-Ethyl-9-methyl-4-phenyl-6H-thieno[3,2-f][1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4] diazepine
Diclazepam Illegal (UK Class C) 7-Chloro-5-(2-chlorophenyl)-1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
Etizolam Illegal (UK Class C) 4-(2-Chlorophenyl)-2-ethyl-9-methyl-6H-thieno[3,2-f][1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]diazepine
Flubromazepam Illegal (UK Class C) 7-Bromo-5-(2-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
Flubromazolam Illegal (UK Class C) 8-Bromo-6-(2-fluorophenyl)-1-methyl-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4] benzodiazepine
Fonazepam Illegal (UK Class C) 5-(2-Fluorophenyl)-7-nitro-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
3-Hydroxyphenazepam Illegal (UK Class C) 7-Bromo-5-(2-chlorophenyl)-3-hydroxy-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
Meclonazepam Illegal (UK Class C) 5-(2-Chlorophenyl)-3-methyl-7-nitro-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
Metizolam Illegal (UK Class C) 4-(2-Chlorophenyl)-2-ethyl-6H-thieno[3,2-f][1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]diazepine
Nifoxipam Illegal (UK Class C) 5-(2-Fluorophenyl)-3-hydroxy-7-nitro-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
Nitrazolam Illegal (UK Class C) 1-Methyl-8-nitro-6-phenyl-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine
Pyrazolam Illegal (UK Class C) 8-Bromo-1-methyl-6-(2-pyridinyl)-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine
U-47700 Illegal (UK Class A) 3,4-dichloro-N-[2-(dimethylamino)cyclohexyl]-N-methylbenzamide

If you do use U-47700 then you can buy tests to help detect mis-selling in our shop. The most suitable setup is the MDMA & Cocaine Testing multipack.