Lucy is back in Brazil with a new dress.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, a John Lennon song that was a hit in the 1960s, was born amidst a social context enlightened by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). In Brazil, both the drug and the song were very popular at the time, although it gradually mitigated. Nevertheless, while the song remains out of the spotlight, LSD derivatives are currently gaining attention with the rising of the new psychoactive substances (NPS).

EASI-IMS an expedite and secure technique to screen for 25I-NBOH in blotter papers.

The increasing number of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and their quick worldwide spreading, often only slightly modified in the form of new derivatives and analogues, have brought the need for fast, wide-ranging, and unequivocal identification methods in clinical and forensic investigations. Because it usually provides secure results, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been routinely employed as the standard technique for the detection of NPS in blotter papers. For 25I-NBOH (N-(2-hydroxybenzyl)-2-(4-iodo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)ethan-1-aminium), however, GC-MS analysis of an blotter paper extract leads to incorrect results.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering study of the redox adsorption of p-phenylenediamine on gold or copper surfaces.

The adsorption of the p-phenylenediamine (PPD(+)) radical cation on gold or copper nanoparticle (NP) surfaces was studied through surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy, excited at 1064 nm. The SERS spectra were obtained from gold or copper NPs after exposure to non-oxidized p-phenylenediamine (PPD) aqueous solution, in millimolar concentration. The gold NPs were synthesized as nanoshells involving silica cores (SiO(2)@Au) and the copper NPs were obtained in aqueous medium, undergoing surface oxidation with the formation of Cu(II) oxide nanoshell (Cu@CuO).