Synthesis, identification, and acute toxicity of alpha-benzylphenethylamine and alpha-benzyl-N-methylphenethylamine. Contaminants in clandestine preparation of amphetamine and methamphetamine.

Amphetamine samples obtained from clandestine laboratories often contain other by-product amines. The most common of these are the alpha-benzylphenethylamine derivatives. This article reports the independent synthesis of reference samples of these amines, spectrophotometric and chromatographic methods for their identification, as well as acute toxicological studies. The utility of the analytical methods is demonstrated by the analysis of several amphetamine samples containing these alpha-benzylphenethylamines.