Abstract
Blotter papers seizures containing synthetic drugs have intensified over the last decades. These drugs were originally conceived as “legal” alternatives to traditional illicit drugs, designed to mimic their effects and circumvent control agencies. Reference methods for determining these substances on blotter papers are based on chromatographic techniques using mass spectrometry detection. However, these procedures are destructive, expensive, and time consuming. Some compounds are also thermolabile and not suitable for regular gas chromatography analyses. In this paper, two multivariate models were presented and incorporated in the routine of a forensic laboratory as a screening method. They were developed and validated using a representative dataset of 158 seizures analyzed by attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and a partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model. The first model (model A) discriminates between samples with and without different types of drugs, and the second one (model B) discriminates between samples containing NBOMe and NBOH, two N-benzyl 2,5-dimethoxy substituted phenethylamine commonly incorporated into blotter papers. The proposed method is fast, non-destructive, and requires no sample preparation. Both models showed reliable results (misidentification errors < 10%), presented good results in a real forensic laboratory routine, and can be updated to include new drugs.
Highlights
New psychoactive substances (NPS), “legal highs” or “design drugs” comprise a group of modified drugs developed by changing molecular structures of known illegal substances such as cannabis, cocaine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and ecstasy.[1,2,3]
Police departments are handling with an impressive rise of blotter papers seizures containing N-benzylphenethylamines derivatives, such as NBOMe and NBOH. 25R-NBOMe (2-(4-R-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)N‐[(2-methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine) and 25R-NBOH (2-((2-(4-R-2,5‐dimethoxyphenyl)ethylamino)methyl) phenol), where R could be either Cl, Br, I or an organic substituent, are two synthetic drug families included in phenethylamines class.[11]
Considering the results already present in the literature,[17,18] indicating the high potential use of middle infrared (MIR) for the identification of synthetic drugs in blotter papers, this work focused on the development, validation, and implementation of an easy-to-operate screening method based on ATR-FTIR analysis for identification of synthetic drugs and discrimination between NBOMe and NBOH in forensic laboratories
Summary
New psychoactive substances (NPS), “legal highs” or “design drugs” comprise a group of modified drugs developed by changing molecular structures of known illegal substances such as cannabis, cocaine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and ecstasy.[1,2,3] As reported by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),[4] a total of 950 NPS were reported up to 2019, making NPS an international issue, presenting threats to health, well-being, and social security. Considering the results already present in the literature,[17,18] indicating the high potential use of MIR for the identification of synthetic drugs in blotter papers, this work focused on the development, validation, and implementation of an easy-to-operate screening method based on ATR-FTIR analysis for identification of synthetic drugs and discrimination between NBOMe and NBOH in forensic laboratories. Considering that the distribution of drugs and possible interferences might be different in each sample spot, all replicates were used to develop the models, instead of using the average spectra of the replicates in the same sample This procedure was applied to increase the spectral variability of the dataset, which could, at first, result in a more robust method.[22]. Five spectra were acquired for each sample and these spectra were tested in the developed models
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