Abstract
PurposeWe encountered a curious case in which two male subjects self-administered mepirapim plus acetyl fentanyl by different routes, i.e., intravenously and by inhalation. We have thus established a detailed procedure for quantification of mepirapim and acetyl fentanyl in whole blood and urine specimens using gas chromatography (GC)–tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS).MethodsThe GC–MS/MS method was validated for linearity, extraction recovery, accuracy, and precision. Liquid chromatography–MS/MS was also used for identification of the target compounds.ResultsGood linearity and reproducibility were achieved in the range of 20–1000 ng/g for both target compounds in both matrices. The concentrations of mepirapim in heart whole blood, femoral vein whole blood, and urine of the deceased individual with administration by intravenous injection were 593, 567, and 527 ng/g, respectively; those of acetyl fentanyl were 155, 125, and 126 ng/g, respectively. The mepirapim and acetyl fentanyl concentrations in the urine specimen of the surviving individual who had administered them by inhalation were 4900 and 570 ng/g, respectively.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, with the exception of a brief mention of a mepirapim concentration in a serum sample in emergency medicine, there are no reported data on the identification and quantification of mepirapim in biological samples. Mepirapim is a new synthetic cannabinoid. The concentration profiles of unchanged mepirapim in whole blood and urine were quite different and unique. A detailed clarification of such uniqueness is under way in our laboratory.
Highlights
Illicit psychoactive substances have become a serious threat worldwide as designer drugs of abuse [1,2,3]
Purpose We encountered a curious case in which two male subjects self-administered mepirapim plus acetyl fentanyl by different routes, i.e., intravenously and by inhalation
We identified and quantified mepirapim and acetyl fentanyl from postmortem specimens in the fatal case using gas chromatography– tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS)
Summary
Illicit psychoactive substances (e.g., synthetic cannabinoids, cathinone derivatives, and synthetic opioids) have become a serious threat worldwide as designer drugs of abuse [1,2,3]. Mepirapim is a new and unique synthetic cannabinoid that was first identified in herbal blends in Japan [4]. This compound differs from JWH-018 in that it has a 4-methylpiperazine group in place of the naphthyl group (Fig. 1) [5]. Acetyl fentanyl has recently been encountered in several clinical and forensic case studies [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. In the United States, 14 overdose deaths were reported in Rhode Island from March through May of 2013 [9], and in Japan, acetyl fentanyl was identified in illegal products in 2014 [1].
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