BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have developed a mass spectrometer that can rapidly detect illegal drugs on-site.

Drugs identification is essential for drugs control, and law enforcement departments have an urgent need for the technology and equipment that can rapidly identify illegal drugs, including new ones.

Developed by researchers from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan Police Officer Academy, and Drugs Analysis and Drugs Control Technology Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Public Security, the device realizes rapid on-site detection of illegal drugs in a complex matrix. The research was published in the journal Anal. Chem.

The device can analyze 27 types of drugs. It can analyze the drugs in less than two seconds and the detection limits for all drugs are at the nanogram level.

The device also adopted a temperature-regulated sampling strategy that can distinguish illegal drugs components in plant-based drugs samples and drinks containing illegal drugs.

The device has been used in some frontier inspection stations in Yunnan Province to help combat drugs smuggling. They will keep improving the performance of the device based on the current application, according to the research team.