Skulska Agnieszka, Kała Maria, Parczewski Andrzej
Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
Przegl Lek. 2005;62(6):581-4.
Fentanyl and its analogues are commonly named synthetic opiates. Some compounds from fentanyl group (e.g. fentanyl, alfentanil, sufentanil, remifentanil) are used as anaesthetic and analgesic of high potency and short duration of action. Effects of acting fentanyls are indistinguishable from those produced by nasal inhalation of street heroin. In view of this, fentanyls are very "attractive" for the narcotic market. In least years an increase in number of reports about illegal production and non-medical use of fentanyl and its analogues have appeared. Numerous fentanyl analogues are sold under one name synthetic heroine or China white. Fentanyl and its analogues also can be used as gas warfare agents. One of fentanyl-related compound was used during action of easing hostages from Dubrovka theatre. Because of respiratory depression, which was caused by used compound, died over 100 hostages. Because of high potency fentanyl-related compounds are used in very low doses. So fentanyls appear in biological material in very low concentrations, not higher than several nanograms per millilitre or per gram. The drugs in these concentrations cannot be detected by means of routinely used screening procedures. Therefore direct methods for determination of this group of compounds are needed. Screening method for determination of fentanyl and its analogues was elaborated and validated. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) technique was applied. The method is characterised by the limit of quantification (LOQ) and the limit of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.6 to 2 ng/ml and from 0.2 to 0.6 ng/ml, respectively for four above-mentioned compounds. The method was used for determination of fentanyl in three forensic cases. The blood, bile and blood from lung samples were taken during autopsy of persons who died shortly after surgical procedure in which fentanyl was used as an adjunct to general anaesthesia.
芬太尼及其类似物通常被称为合成阿片类药物。芬太尼类的一些化合物（如芬太尼、阿芬太尼、舒芬太尼、瑞芬太尼）被用作高效、短效的麻醉剂和镇痛药。作用中的芬太尼类药物的效果与通过鼻腔吸入街头海洛因产生的效果难以区分。鉴于此，芬太尼类药物对麻醉品市场非常“有吸引力”。近年来，关于芬太尼及其类似物的非法生产和非医疗用途的报道数量有所增加。许多芬太尼类似物以合成海洛因或中国白的名称出售。芬太尼及其类似物也可被用作毒气战剂。一种与芬太尼相关的化合物在解救杜布罗夫卡剧院人质的行动中被使用。由于所用化合物导致呼吸抑制，100多名质死亡。由于效力高，与芬太尼相关的化合物使用剂量极低。因此，芬太尼类药物在生物材料中的浓度非常低，不高于每毫升或每克几纳克。这些浓度的药物无法通过常规使用的筛查程序检测到。因此，需要直接测定这类化合物的方法。已精心制定并验证了测定芬太尼及其类似物的筛查方法。应用了液相色谱 - 质谱（LC/MS）技术。该方法的定量限（LOQ）和检测限（LOD）的特点是，对于上述四种化合物，分别为0.6至2 ng/ml和0.2至0.6 ng/ml。该方法用于三起法医案件中芬太尼的测定。在使用芬太尼作为全身麻醉辅助剂的外科手术后不久死亡的人员尸检期间采集了血液、胆汁和肺组织血液样本。
