Piperazines are a class of new psychoactive substances that produce hallucinogenic effects by altering monoamine neurotransmitter levels in the central nervous system. Their abuse causes stimulating and hallucinogenic effects along with adverse reactions such as headache, dizziness, anxiety, insomnia, vomiting, chest pain, tachycardia, hypertension, and may lead to cardiovascular diseases, multiple organ failure, and death. This review covers the in vivo processes, sample treatment, and analytical methods for piperazines, aiming to aid forensic identification.
After a single injection of MDMA in rats, peak concentrations of MDMA and its metabolite MDA occurred at 5 minutes and 1 hour, respectively, and both were detectable up to 12 hours. After continuous daily administration over 7 days, peak times shifted to 30 minutes for MDMA and 1.5 hours for MDA, and the detection window shortened to 10 hours. The ratio of MDMA to MDA in plasma followed a nonlinear relationship with time, described by separate equations for single and continuous dosing. These toxicokinetic differences provide reference data for forensic identification of MDMA exposure.