Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Psilocybin and Psilocin in Urine by Surface‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
Journal of Raman Spectroscopy May 28, 2026 Wei Lin, Hong Chen, Yuanyuan Li
A new detection method using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy with silver-coated gold nanoparticles can identify psilocybin and psilocin in human urine at extremely low concentrations. The technique achieved detection limits of 1.11 × 10⁻¹⁰ mol·L⁻¹ for psilocybin and 6.75 × 10⁻¹² mol·L⁻¹ for psilocin. In tests with real urine samples, recovery rates ranged from 80.79% to 109.53% for psilocybin and 83.98% to 106.78% for psilocin, with relative standard deviations below 9%, indicating good accuracy and stability. This approach may be useful for drug enforcement, clinical toxicology, and monitoring psychoactive substances.