Rapid Determination of Heroin in Adulterated Commercial Beverage in Drug Transportation Cases

Selective extraction of synthetic cathinones new psychoactive substances from wastewater, urine and cocktail using dummy molecularly imprinted polymers

Dummy molecularly imprinted polymers (DMIPs) for selective extraction of five common synthetic cathinones (SCs) were prepared by bulk polymerization. DMIPs materials possessed narrow diameter distribution (30-60 µm) and large specific surface area (329.6 m² g^-1). Imprinting factors for cathinone, methcathinone, mephedrone, methylone and ethylone were 1.11-1.82. DMIPs could also quickly adsorb SCs from aqueous solutions within 5 min. Therefore, the materials were used as solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbents to selectively extract five SCs in complex samples. An accurate and sensitive analytical method based on DMIPs-SPE combined with HPLC-MS/MS was established. Under optimal conditions, the established method showed low limits of detection (0.002-0.1 ng mL^-1), satisfactory recoveries (84.1-97.7%) and good repeatability (relative standard deviation (RSD) below 9%). The method was successfully verified using wastewater, urine and cocktail samples. Recoveries of SCs at three spiking levels were in the range of 75.1-98.6%, with RSD values below 7.0%. Compared with commercial sorbents, DMIPs showed better clean-up ability with matrix effect values of -24.1%-8.3% for all SCs in wastewater, urine and cocktail samples. Therefore, the developed DMIPs-SPE-HPLC-MS/MS strategy could be used as a specific and cost-effective method for sensitive determination of SCs in complex samples.

Dummy molecularly imprinted polymers for class-selective extraction of amphetamine-type stimulants from alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages

Molecularly imprinted polymer was constructed for the first time through dummy imprinting strategy with homopiperonylamine as dummy template. The prepared dummy molecularly imprinted polymer (DMIP) showed high class selectivity towards the most popular amphetamine-type stimulants (ATSs) such as methamphetamine, amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-amphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine with the imprinting factors of 2.280∼3.698 and selectivity factors of 1.654∼3.698. Moreover, ATSs could be rapidly adsorbed from water with the equilibrium time within 5 min. Hydrogen-bonding interaction between the amino groups of ATSs and carboxy on DMIP could be dominated adsorption mechanism. DMIP was employed as solid phase extraction (SPE) sorbents. Under the optimum extraction conditions, the method using DMIP-based SPE and high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry showed good linearity in the range of 0.025∼1.00 μmol L^-1, good repeatability (RSD 4.8∼8.6%, n = 5) and low limits of quantification (0.007∼0.200 ng mL^-1, S/N = 10). Satisfactory recoveries (72.5∼120%) with low RSD values (<10%) were obtained for all targets viz. spiked coke carbonated drinks, beer and cocktail. Compared with other commercial SPE sorbents, DMIP exhibited lower matrix effect (ME) for coke, beer and cocktail with ME values of 101∼124%, 75.8∼80.2% and 103∼128%, respectively. The obtained results suggested that the developed DMIP materials could be a potential candidate for pretreatment of ATSs in alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.

Interpol review of controlled substances 2016-2019

This review paper covers the forensic-relevant literature in controlled substances from 2016 to 2019 as a part of the 19th Interpol International Forensic Science Managers Symposium. The review papers are also available at the Interpol website at: https://www.interpol.int/content/download/14458/file/Interpol%20Review%20Papers%202019.pdf.