Booth Id:
CHEM059I
Category:
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Year:
2015
Finalist Names:
Innerebner, Isabella
Abstract:
K.O- drops, everyone knows these dangerous drugs from the media. I have heard more and more of instances where these drugs were used to make people helpless.
Starting point of my idea was that especially young girls are often afraid to go out because this problem becomes more and more dangerous. It happens really often. The problem is that if you get K.O drops from a stranger you don´t realize it immediately.
But half an hour later you lose control and most people don´t help you because they think you are drunk.
I wanted to develop a test with which you can quickly detect these drops directly in the drink. Up till now such a test does not exist, especially not for colored party drinks.
You can either use my test to prevent becoming a victim or – after you have drunk – to check if you got K.O drops or not. It is also helpful for doctors and nurses in hospitals so that they can immediately give you the right medication without any further tests.
I tried to modify an existing method for detection of chemical esters with hydroxylamine. I found, that it is possible to use not dangerous chemicals as solids for the test. Only 0,3 ml of a drink is necessary and four different chemicals used as a tablet to detect GHB and GBL in a drink within 10 minutes. The last development is a mini column test. All the reagents are applied on inert substances and stacked in the tube in the necessary sequence similar to the reaction steps.
Another point is the question „Why does anyone want to go out and give anyone K.O drops? “. I started surveys in different schools to learn more about the background of abuse and what young people think about this topic. The results show that there are a lot of cases of abuse and nearly everyone knows somebody who has been victim of these drops.