An investigation of the stability of emerging new psychoactive substances
Drug Testing and Analysis November 4, 2013 Yan Ni Annie Soh, Simon Elliott 97 citations
Thirteen new psychoactive substances (NPS) were tested for stability in human blood and plasma stored at room temperature. Most remained stable for at least 21 days, but 4-MEC became undetectable in blood within 14 days and lost 54% in plasma, with a breakdown product (dihydro-4-MEC) also found in a real case sample. AMT produced several breakdown products that also appeared in vivo. The findings indicate that additional compounds observed in forensic casework are likely metabolites rather than instability products. This is the first published stability data for these emerging substances, and presumptive metabolites for 25C-NBOMe and AH-7921 are reported.