Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis
February 5, 2020
Alfredo Fabrizio Lo Faro, Annagiulia Di Trana, Nunzia La Maida et al.
45 citations
New psychoactive substances of natural origin, mainly alkaloids from Asian and South American plants, typically have stimulant or hallucinogenic effects, with a few having sedative properties. Information on analytical identification of these substances in plant material is scarce, and there is little data on their characterization and quantification in biological matrices from intoxication or fatality cases. Their metabolism is not fully investigated, making identification infrequent and metabolites often unknown.
Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis
January 20, 2024
Alfredo Fabrizio Lo Faro, Giorgia Sprega, Diletta Beradinelli et al.
14 citations
Enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methods were developed to quantify MDMA and its phase-1 metabolites HMA, HMMA, and MDA in human plasma, sweat, oral fluid, and urine. Two polysaccharide-based chiral columns achieved baseline separation of most enantiomer pairs: the Lux AMP column separated MDMA, HMA, and HMMA enantiomers but not MDA; the Lux i-Amylose-3 column separated MDMA, HMMA, and MDA enantiomers but not HMA. Analysis took under 4 minutes with one column and under 6 minutes with the other. Both methods were validated and applied to biological fluids, confirming enantioselective metabolism of MDMA.
Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis
June 15, 2024
Giorgia Sprega, Giorgi Kobidze, Alfredo Fabrizio Lo Faro et al.
4 citations
An improved chiral LC-MS/MS method separates all four pairs of enantiomers of MDMA and its major phase-1 metabolites (HMA, HMMA, MDA) on a single Lux AMP column within six minutes, using an optimized mobile phase and column dimensions. The method was applied to human plasma, oral fluid, and urine. In urine, hydrolysis of glucuronides with hydrochloric acid or glucuronidase was tested to evaluate effects on the concentration and enantiomeric distribution of the hydroxy metabolites HMA and HMMA.
Journal of analytical toxicology
March 15, 2026
Aurora Balloni, Sarah M R Wille, Giorgia Sprega et al.
MDMA (Ecstasy) is broken down and cleared from the body at different rates for its two mirror-image forms. In oral fluid from 161 samples, the S-(+)-enantiomer of MDMA was eliminated faster (half-life 3.3 hours) than the R-(-)-enantiomer (half-life 4.8 hours). Both reached peak levels within 1.75 hours after taking the drug. For the metabolite MDA, the second enantiomer cleared more quickly (half-life 9.6 hours) than the first (23.8 hours). The ratio of R to S MDMA increased over time, which could help estimate when the drug was taken. In roadside checks, 54.5% of cases had an R/S ratio above 1.5, suggesting use within the prior 24 hours.