Florou D, Boumba V A, Tsiafoulis G C
Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Department of Chemistry, NMR Centre, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Magn Reson Chem. 2025 Mar;63(3):195-204. doi: 10.1002/mrc.5500. Epub 2024 Dec 9.
New psychoactive substances (NPS)-designed to mimic various legal or illegal substances-are an emerging worldwide health problem. Their identification and quantification in either complex seized samples or powders are critical; moreover, their determination in biological fluids is an intriguing goal in the forensic toxicology field. Synthetic cathinones are one of the most important groups among NPS. The current paper was designed as a pilot study to investigate the application of NMR techniques to identify and quantify unknown NPS compounds in deuterated dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO-d) and in urine using the synthetic cathinone benzylone (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-benzylcathinone, BMDP) as a pilot compound. In the first part of our study, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic characterization was performed using 1D and 2D homonuclear and heteronuclear NMR spectroscopic methods as long as diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY). Following the above, the assignment of benzylone in DMSO-d was performed, and a distinct spectroscopic pattern was proposed. In the second part of our study, a NMR spectroscopic approach was applied for benzylone identification and quantification in a spiked with benzylone urine. Following the above, the assignment of benzylone in spiked urine was performed. A distinct pattern of the H11, H14, H15, and H8 signals on the H NMR spectra was observed and suggested as a "NMR spectroscopic pattern/signature" enabling the identification of benzylone moieties in urine. On the other hand, the applied NMR techniques showed low sensitivity in quantitating benzylone in spiked urine. Overall, our results are promising in using NMR for structure determination of unknown compounds in urine.
新型精神活性物质（NPS）——旨在模仿各种合法或非法物质——是一个在全球范围内日益凸显的健康问题。在复杂的查获样品或粉末中对其进行识别和定量至关重要；此外，在生物体液中对其进行测定是法医毒理学领域一个引人关注的目标。合成卡西酮是NPS中最重要的类别之一。本文设计为一项初步研究，以合成卡西酮苄基酮（3,4-亚甲基二氧基-N-苄基卡西酮，BMDP）作为试点化合物，研究核磁共振（NMR）技术在氘代二甲亚砜（DMSO-d）和尿液中识别和定量未知NPS化合物的应用。在我们研究的第一部分，使用一维和二维同核及异核NMR光谱方法以及扩散有序光谱（DOSY）进行了核磁共振（NMR）光谱表征。在此之后，对苄基酮在DMSO-d中的化学位移进行了归属，并提出了一种独特的光谱模式。在我们研究的第二部分，应用NMR光谱方法对加标了苄基酮的尿液中的苄基酮进行识别和定量。在此之后，对加标尿液中苄基酮的化学位移进行了归属。在氢核磁共振谱上观察到了H11、H14、H15和H8信号的独特模式，并将其作为一种“NMR光谱模式/特征”，用于识别尿液中的苄基酮部分。另一方面，所应用的NMR技术在定量加标尿液中的苄基酮时显示出较低的灵敏度。总体而言，我们的结果对于利用NMR确定尿液中未知化合物的结构很有前景。
