Problems of Forensic Sciences 2019 Vol. 118 (CXVIII) 157-169
ANALYSIS OF THE FRAGMENTATION OF NEW-TYPE PHENETHYLAMINE DERIVATIVES FROM THE NBOME AND NBF GROUPS UNDER ELECTROSPRAY IONIZATION CONDITIONS USING HIGH RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY
Karolina SEKUŁA, Wioleta WRZESIEŃ-TOKARCZYK, Dariusz ZUBA
Institute of Forensic Research, Kraków, Poland
Streszczenie
The phenomenon of introducing new psychoactive substances onto the drug market has been continuously observed in recent years. New compounds are formed mainly by replacing known structural components with different chemical groups. Due to the structural similarity of the compounds, identifying new substances is often difficult and time consuming. If a new compound is not included in a mass spectra library, its structure may be determined based on the presence of some characteristic fragmentation ions. So far, fragmentation pathways have been determined for phenethylamine derivatives from the 2C group and the simplest derivatives from the NBOMe family. Therefore in this study, the fragmentation patterns of eight new-type phenethylamine derivatives from the NBOMe and NBF family using electrospray ionization were investigated. The analysis was carried out by liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole – time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOFMS). Thanks to the high mass accuracy of the applied technique, the performed study allowed us to determine the preferred decay routes of new phenethylamine derivatives. In the tested molecules, the bonds adjacent to the nitrogen atom were mainly cleaved, leading to the formation of characteristic ions derived from the benzyl group with appropriate substituents and ions corresponding to the phenethylamine core with attached substituents. Knowledge of the fragmentation pathways of phenethylamine derivatives from the NBOMe and NBF group can be very useful in determining the structure of novel psychoactive substances in forensic laboratories.
Słowa kluczowe
Fragmentation; Phenethylamine derivatives; NBOMe; NBF; Electrospray; LC-QTOFMS.