Investigating the chemical impurity profiles of fentanyl preparations and precursors to identify chemical attribution signatures for synthetic method attribution.

Autor: Ovenden SPB; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia. Electronic address: simon.ovenden@dst.defence.gov.au., McDowall LJ; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia., McKeown HE; Applied Chemistry and Environmental Science, School of Science, RMIT University, La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia., McGill NW; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia., Jones OAH; Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), School of Science, RMIT University, Plenty Road, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia., Pearson JR; Office of the Chief Forensic Scientist, Forensic Services Department, Victoria Police, Macleod, Victoria 3085, Australia; School of Molecular Sciences, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia., Petricevic M; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia., Rogers ML; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia., Rook TJ; Applied Chemistry and Environmental Science, School of Science, RMIT University, La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia., Williams J; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia., Webster RL; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia., Zanatta SD; Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Forensic science international [Forensic Sci Int] 2021 Apr; Vol. 321, pp. 110742. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Feb 23.
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110742
Abstrakt: From an analytical chemistry standpoint, determining the chemical attribution signatures (CAS) of synthetic reaction mixtures is an impurity profiling exercise. Identifying and understanding the impurity profile and CAS of these chemical agents would allow them to be exploited for chemical forensic information, such as how a particular chemical agent was synthesised. Being able to determine the synthetic route used to make a chemical agent allows for the possibility of batches of the agent, and individual incidents using that agent, to be forensically linked. This information is of particular benefit to agencies investigating the nefarious and illicit use of chemical agents. One such chemical agent of interest to law enforcement and national security agencies is fentanyl. In this study two acylation methods for the final step of fentanyl production, herein termed the Janssen and Siegfried methods, were investigated by liquid chromatography- high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and multivariate statistical analysis (MVA). From these data, fifty-five chemical impurities were identified. Of these, ten were specific CAS for the Janssen method, and five for the Siegfried method. Additionally, analytical data from four different literature methods for production of the fentanyl precursor 4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (ANPP), were compared to the results obtained from the method of production (Valdez) used in this study. Comparison of the LC-HRMS data for these five methods allowed for four Valdez specific impurities to be identified. These may be useful CAS for the Valdez method of ANPP production.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no know competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this manuscript.
(Crown Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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