Characterization of the synthesis of N,N‐dimethyltryptamine by reductive amination using gas chromatography ion trap mass spectrometry
Drug Testing and Analysis July 1, 2010 Simon D. Brandt, Sharon A. Moore, Sally Freeman et al. 14 citations
An impurity profile was established for a synthetic route to the hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) using reductive amination of tryptamine with formaldehyde and reduction by sodium cyanoborohydride. Seven compounds were detected and quantified, including DMT and several byproducts. Replacing sodium cyanoborohydride with sodium borohydride almost exclusively produced tetrahydro-β-carboline instead of DMT. Detection limits ranged from 21.5 to 87.7 ng mL⁻¹, and quantification limits from 24.6 to 88.3 µg mL⁻¹, with linearity from 20.8 to 980 µg mL⁻¹. The method is useful for forensic and pharmaceutical analysis of DMT.