Preventing misidentification of 25I-NBOH as 2C-I on routine GC–MS analyses
José Coelho Neto, Ana Flávia B. Andrade, Rogério Araújo Lordeiro, Yuri Machado, Mathieu Elie, Ettore Ferrari Júnior, Luciano Chaves Arantes
Forensic Toxicology July 1, 2017 DOI: 10.1007/s11419-017-0362-0 via Springer Nature
Summary
25I-NBOH, a novel psychoactive substance found on blotter paper in Brazil, can be misidentified as 2C-I by routine gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) because it degrades into 2C-I inside the injector unless a derivatization procedure is used. A slight adjustment to the standard GC–MS method—shortening the solvent delay window—enables detection of an additional early chromatographic peak from the degradation, allowing distinction between 25I-NBOH and 2C-I without derivatization and preventing misidentification.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Method development or analytical study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | 25i-nboh 2c-i Nps Misidentification Thermal degradation |
| Key finding | Shortening the solvent delay window in routine GC–MS allows detection of a secondary peak from 25I-NBOH degradation, enabling distinction from 2C-I without derivatization. |
Abstract
25I-NBOH is a novel psychoactive substance (NPS) recently reported to have been found on blotter paper samples seized on the streets of Brazil, and used as a replacement for the NBOMes now scheduled in many countries. The presence of this NPS on the street market may go undetected, because the most widely and routinely utilised analytical technique for drug sample analyses is gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), which can misidentify 25I-NBOH (and indeed the other members of the NBOH series), because of its degradation into 2C-I (and corresponding 2C for the other members of the series) within the injector, unless a derivatization procedure is employed, which is often non-standard. While direct detection of 25I-NBOH under routine GC–MS conditions is still achieved, a slight adjustment in the standard GC–MS method, including shortening of the solvent delay window, was found to enable the detection of an additional peak due to 25I-NBOH degradation. Consequently, the presence of this secondary early chromatographic peak allowed for the distinction between 25I-NBOH and 2C-I using routine GC–MS without resorting to derivatization (or other analytical processes), thus preventing misidentification of 25I-NBOH as 2C-I.