Suitability of Electrochemical Sensing on Screen‐Printed Carbon Electrodes for the Identification of Eutylone (βk‐EBDB)

The illicit stimulant, β‐keto‐ethylbenzodioxolylbutanamine (βk‐EBDB), has seen widespread abuse in recent years, spurring the need for new on‐site screening tools for accurate and timely identification in forensic investigations. This study sought to develop and evaluate an electrochemical sensing method on screen‐printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) for the determination of this drug in simulated case samples, human oral fluid and human urine. Analysis was performed under optimised differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) for solid drug material dissolved in 0.10 M borate buffer saline (BBS) at pH 10.0 as the supporting electrolyte. Adsorptive stripping differential pulse voltammetry (AdSDPV) was employed for detection in biological fluids diluted in the same buffer system. βk‐EBDB was profiled in under 4 min with an estimated limit of detection/quantification (LOD/LOQ) of 10 µM and a linear response within the following concentration ranges: 10–100 µM in supporting electrolyte, 10–60 µM in oral fluid and 10–35 µM in urine. Electrochemical signals demonstrated good repeatability in peak potential both within a single day (intraday) and across multiple days (interday), with relative standard deviations for both methods remaining below 1.51% ( N = 36). During the same experiments, peak current relative standard deviations were consistently higher, reaching 24.1% ( N = 36) in some instances. Strong selectivity for βk‐EBDB was observed even in the presence of commonly encountered illicit drugs and cutting agents. This suggests the method's potential for integration into a rapid and cost‐effective drug testing device for forensic science applications.