A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method identified four metabolites of the psychoactive compound 2C-T-2 in rat urine after a single 20 mg/kg dose. The metabolites included 2-(4-ethylthio-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-ethanol, 4-ethylthio-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl acetic acid, and two isomeric acetamido metabolites. Based on these findings, a metabolic pathway for 2C-T-2 in rats is proposed.
Oral administration of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine (2C-T-2) to mice decreased nitric oxide (NO) production by T and B lymphocytes in the spleen and T cells in the thymus, suggesting the drug may weaken immune defense functions. In rats, the parent drug was detected in urine using capillary electrophoresis with UV absorbance. Without sample concentration, detection limits were 4.5 and 5.0 μg/mL; with stacking and sweeping-micellar electrokinetic chromatography, limits improved to 19.2 and 9.1 ng/mL. After intra-peritoneal injection of 20 μg/g body weight in three male rats, 2.9 μg/mL and 0.25 μg/mL of 2C-T-2 were found in first- and second-day urine fractions.