Fatal intoxication with N-ethylpentylone: a case report and method for determining N-ethylpentylone in biological material

Abstract

Purpose We present a fully validated method for determination of N-ethylpentylone in biological material and a case report of fatal intoxication with N-ethylpentylone. Methods Blood and urine samples were extracted with ethyl acetate from alkaline medium (pH 9). The analysis was carried out using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. MDMA-d 5 was used as the internal standard. Validation criteria were evaluated for blank blood and urine at concentrations of 10 and 100 ng/mL. Results The validation parameters were as follows: lower limit of quantification: 1 ng/mL for blood and urine, coefficient of determination: blood > 0.9996, urine > 0.9975, precision for 10 and 100 ng/mL, respectively: blood 4.87% and 4.47%, urine 1.93% and 2.43%, accuracy for 10 and 100 ng/mL, respectively: blood 14.7% and −2.95%, urine 19.1% and 2.10%, recovery for 10 and 100 ng/mL, respectively: blood 91.5% and 100.2%, urine 97.4% and 96.7%, matrix effect in blood was 127% and 117% for 10 and 100 ng/mL, respectively, in urine 124% and 117% for 10 and 100 ng/mL, respectively. In the present case of fatal intoxication with N-ethylpentylone, the determined concentration of this substance was 10.6 µg/mL in peripheral blood and 17.6 µg/mL in urine. In both materials, four metabolites of N-ethylpentylone were determined qualitatively. Conclusion The developed method enables the determination of N-ethylpentylone with high sensitivity and selectivity. The method was used to make determinations in biological material in the case of fatal intoxication with N-ethylpentylone.

The Stability of 4‐Chloromethcathinone in Blood and Vitreous Humor

“…The procedure of 4‐CMC extraction from biological material was identical to that described earlier by Zawadzki et al (22). Briefly, 0.2 mL of whole blood/vitreous humor was spiked with 0.02 mL of methanolic internal standard solution (4‐MMC‐ d 3 , 4‐methylmethcathinone‐ d 3 , at a concentration of 1 µg/mL) and 0.2 mL of 0.5 M ammonium carbonate, pH 9.…”

“…The validation was performed in accordance with Matuszewski et al (23). The linearity, coefficient of determination ( R 2 ), lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), precision, accuracy, recovery, and matrix effect were determined in the same way as presented by Zawadzki et al (22) for both matrices: whole blood and urine (instead of vitreous humor, due to the lack of appropriate volume of blank vitreous humor sample). For vitreous humor samples, we examined the precision, accuracy, and matrix effect ( n = 5).…”

Metabolism of synthetic cathinones through the zebrafish water tank model: a promising tool for forensic toxicology laboratories

“…3a). Reduction of the keto moiety (M1), hydroxylation (M2) and demethylenation (M3) were also observed in the human biological fluids studied [31,32]. Although phase II glucoconjugated metabolites were already described for α-PVP and ethylone in humans [21,33], such conjugated metabolites were not observed in this study.…”

Fatal intoxication with U-47700 in combination with other NPS (N-ethylhexedrone, adinazolam, 4-CIC, 4-CMC) confirmed by identification and quantification in autopsy specimens and evidences

“…The sample procedure was carried out according to the previously described procedure by Zawadzki et al [23] with minor modifications. Briefly, 0.2 mL biological material (femoral blood/urine) and 0.02 mL of methanolic IS mixture (4-MMC-d 3 , fentanyl-d 5 , diazepam-d 5 at concentration of 1 μg/mL) were placed into 10-mL plastic tube, then 0.2 mL of 0.5 M ammonium carbonate (pH 9) was added.…”

“…column (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA). The analytical conditions were identical to those presented previously in a study by Zawadzki et al [23]; the mobile phase A: a mixture of 10 mM ammonium formate and 0.1% formic acid in water, B: 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile. The gradient applied: 0 min, 5% B; 12 min, 98% B; 14 min, 98% B; and 15 min, 5% B.…”