TY - JOUR
T1 - In Vitro Metabolic Study of Four Synthetic Cathinones: 4-MPD, 2-NMC, 4F-PHP and bk-EPDP
AU - Gavrilovic, Ivana
AU - Gelu, Yunita
AU - Abbate, Vincenzo
N1 - Funding Information:
Y.G. contributed to this research while working toward her MSc degree in Forensic Science at King?s College London, which was sponsored by Indonesia Government Fund for Education. All authors are grateful to TicTac Communications for the provision of synthetic cathinone standards.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - The use of illicit drugs is exceedingly prevalent in society, and several of them can be illegally purchased from the internet. This occurrence is particularly augmented by the rapid emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), which are sold and distributed as “legal highs”. Amongst NPS, the class of synthetic cathinones represents stimulant substances exhibiting similar effects to amphetamine and its derivatives. Despite potentially being less psychoactive than amphetamine, synthetic cathinones are harmful substances for humans, and little or no information is available regarding their pharmacology and toxicology. The present study investigated the in vitro metabolism and metabolites of four recent synthetic cathinones, namely, 1-(4-methylphenyl)-2-(methylamino)-pentanone (4-MPD), 1-(4-methylphenyl)-2-dimethylamino-propanone (2-NMC), 1-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl-hexanone (4F-PHP) and 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-(ethylamino)-1-pentanone (bk-EPDP). Our in vitro metabolism study resulted in 24 identified metabolites, including both phase I and phase II metabolites. All metabolites were detected and identified using liquid chromatography– high-resolution mass spectrometry and may serve as additional markers of abuse of these NPS in toxicological analyses.
AB - The use of illicit drugs is exceedingly prevalent in society, and several of them can be illegally purchased from the internet. This occurrence is particularly augmented by the rapid emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), which are sold and distributed as “legal highs”. Amongst NPS, the class of synthetic cathinones represents stimulant substances exhibiting similar effects to amphetamine and its derivatives. Despite potentially being less psychoactive than amphetamine, synthetic cathinones are harmful substances for humans, and little or no information is available regarding their pharmacology and toxicology. The present study investigated the in vitro metabolism and metabolites of four recent synthetic cathinones, namely, 1-(4-methylphenyl)-2-(methylamino)-pentanone (4-MPD), 1-(4-methylphenyl)-2-dimethylamino-propanone (2-NMC), 1-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl-hexanone (4F-PHP) and 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-(ethylamino)-1-pentanone (bk-EPDP). Our in vitro metabolism study resulted in 24 identified metabolites, including both phase I and phase II metabolites. All metabolites were detected and identified using liquid chromatography– high-resolution mass spectrometry and may serve as additional markers of abuse of these NPS in toxicological analyses.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124128420&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/metabo12020115
DO - 10.3390/metabo12020115
M3 - Article
SN - 2218-1989
VL - 12
JO - Metabolites
JF - Metabolites
IS - 2
M1 - 115
ER -