Personal battery-powered vaporizers or electronic cigarettes were developed to deliver a nicotine vapor such that smokers could simulate smoking tobacco without the inherent pathology of inhaled tobacco smoke. Electronic cigarettes and their e-cigarette liquid formulations are virtually unregulated. These formulations are typically composed of propylene glycol and/or glycerin, flavoring components and an active drug, such as nicotine. Twenty-seven e-cigarette liquid formulations that contain nicotine between 6 and 22 mg/L were acquired within the USA and analyzed by various methods to determine their contents. They were screened by Direct Analysis in Real Time™ Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS). Nicotine was confirmed and quantitated by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, and the glycol composition was confirmed and quantitated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The DART-MS screening method was able to consistently identify the exact mass peaks resulting from the protonated molecular ion of nicotine, glycol and a number of flavor additives within 5 mmu. Nicotine concentrations were determined to range from 45 to 131% of the stated label concentration, with 18 of the 27 have >10% variance. Glycol composition was generally accurate to the product description, with only one exception where the propylene glycol to glycerin percentage ratio was stated as 50:50 and the determined concentration of propylene glycol to glycerin was 81:19 (% v/v). No unlabeled glycols were detected in these formulations.

No abstract

No abstract

U-47700 was developed by the Upjohn Co. in the 1970s as part of their search for a selective μ-opioid agonist with similar potency as morphine. U-47700 has re-emerged recently in the illicit drug market and is easily and cheaply obtained via the internet as well as on the street, many times falsely sold as another drug. Several fatalities from U-47700 have been reported in scientific literature, often in combination with other intoxicants. This case report describes the first death in south-central Kansas resulting solely from U-47700 intoxication: a 26-year-old white male found dead in his bedroom with apparent drug paraphernalia. Autopsy findings were consistent with opioid overdose, but toxicological examination, utilizing immunoassay and instrumental techniques, was negative for opioids. U-47700 was detected in a comprehensive alkaloid screen by GC/MS and GC-NPD, and quantitation was performed using GC-NPD on a variety of specimens to provide a full tissue distribution. Quantitation of U-47700 in this individual revealed the following: heart blood 0.26 mg/L, femoral blood 0.40 mg/L, vitreous fluid 0.09 mg/L, brain 0.38 mg/kg, liver 0.28 mg/kg and urine 4.6 mg/L.

This study describes 12 cases of drivers stopped for impaired driving, where a designer benzodiazepine was detected, specifically etizolam or flubromazolam. Etizolam was detected in three cases, with blood concentrations ranging from 40 to 330 ng/mL. Two of these cases had low concentrations of methamphetamine and/or amphetamine, and in the third case tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was detected. Flubromazolam was detected in nine cases; in all cases, at least one other drug was detected, with THC being the most prevalent. The mean blood concentration of flubromazolam was 16.3 ng/mL and had a median concentration of 17.0 ng/mL, ranging from 7.0 to 31 ng/mL. The low concentrations of designer benzodiazepines that produce pharmacological effects may allow many of these drugs to go undetected using routine testing in laboratories; therefore, it is necessary to include these novel compounds within validated analytical methods to reduce the chance of reporting false negative results. The prevalence in which laboratories are detecting the presence of novel benzodiazepines in impaired drivers illustrates the increased threat to public safety. These case studies demonstrate the importance of investigating agencies and forensic laboratories to be vigilant in monitoring the emerging novel psychoactive substances in their region.

No abstract

No abstract

Methcathinone (MCAT; 1), the progenitor of numerous and widely abused “synthetic cathinone” central stimulants, exists as a pair of optical isomers. Although S(−)­MCAT is several-fold more potent than R(+)­MCAT in rodent locomotor stimulation and in stimulus generalization studies in rat drug discrimination assays, the individual optical isomers of MCAT have never been directly compared for their actions at monoamine transporters that seem to underlie their actions and have never been examined for their relative abuse potential. Here, we found that the isomers of MCAT are nearly equieffective at dopamine and norepinephrine transporters (DAT and NET, respectively) as transporter substrates (i.e., as releasing agents) and are ≥63-fold less potent at the serotonin transporter (SERT). In intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) studies to evaluate abuse-related drug effects in rats, S(−)­MCAT was approximately twice as potent as its R-enantiomer. Achiral analogs, α-methyl MCAT (3) and α-des-methyl MCAT (4), also were DAT/NET substrates and also produced abuse-related ICSS effects, indicating that they retain abuse potential and that they might be useful for the further study of the stereochemistry of synthetic cathinone analogs with chiral β- (or other) substituents.