Magic mushrooms given away by a glow
03 February 2006, by Emma Young
The “magic” components of hallucinogenic mushrooms can be made to glow in the dark by a new detection test developed by Australian scientists.
It detects psilocybin or psilocin – the psychoactive components of magic mushrooms. It is between two and three orders of magnitude more sensitive than the standard UV detection method currently used, its creators say.
Nicole Anastos at Deakin University in Geelong, Australia, studied Psilocybe subaeruginosa, a species of magic mushroom commonly found in Australia and New Zealand.
Anastos soaked mushroom samples in methanol to extract the alkaloid (nitrogen-containing) components. Next she used chromatography to separate out these various components, and added potassium permanganate and ruthenium. If a mushroom contains the hallucinogenic components – psilocybin and psilocin – they will react with these two compounds to release light.
Full story at New Scientist, via Tim Chapman