Identification and physicochemical characterization of 4‐fluorobutyrfentanyl (1‐((4‐fluorophenyl)(1‐phenethylpiperidin‐4‐yl)amino)butan‐1‐one, 4‐FBF) in seized materials and post‐mortem biological samples

Abstract

During the last decade, a substantial growth in new psychoactive substances (NPS) has been recorded. Within this group, a considerably fast-growing sub-group is represented by the opioids, which are based on modifications of the fentanyl structure. In this study, identification and analytical characterization of a new fentanyl derivative, 4-fluorobutyrfentanyl (1-((4-fluorophenyl)(1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)amino)butan-1-one, 4-FBF), is described. Apart from the seized powder, 4-FBF was also identified in the e-cigarette liquid secured in Case 1. The concentration of the compound in the liquid was 35 mg/mL. The main component of the liquid was glycerol, and nicotine was also present. This substance was detected in seized material that originated from the illegal drug market in Poland. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this report presents the first two analytically confirmed cases of fatal intoxication associated with 4-FBF. Case 1 was a 26-year-old male drug user who was found dead at home. Case 2 was a 25-year-old female, occasional user of NPS and drugs, who was also found dead at home. The concentrations of 4-FBF in blood were 91 and 112 ng/mL and in urine 200 and 414 ng/mL. The concentrations of 4-FBF in liver and kidney were 902 and 411 ng/g, and 136 and 197 ng/g, for Case 1 and Case 2, respectively. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Expanding World of Novel Psychoactive Substances: Opioids

“…Other documented and published cases of fatal butyrylfentanyl overdose (60–62) are presented in Table 3. Two analytically confirmed cases of fatal intoxication with 4-fluorobutyrylfentanyl were recently reported in Poland by Rojkiewicz and coworkers (63) (see Table 3). …”

Systematic review of the clinical consequences of butyrfentanyl and corresponding analogues

“…Our database search retrieved 271 articles, where 54 were screened as potentially relevant articles with 10 articles meeting inclusion criteria with publication dates between 2015 and 2018 ( Figure 2) (Bäckberg et al, 2015;Cole et al, 2015;Farkas et al, 2018;Helander et al, 2016Helander et al, , 2017Hikin et al, 2018;McIntyre et al, 2016;Poklis et al, 2016;Rojkiewicz et al, 2017;Staeheli et al, 2016). The patients' characteristics are summarized in Table 1.…”

Annual banned‐substance review: Analytical approaches in human sports drug testing

“…In 2017, WADA's Prohibited List sustained the existence of 2 groups of stimulants namely non‐specified and specified compounds. Of note, despite the ever‐growing plethora of “designer” psychoactive substances (including psychostimulants), which have urged forensics and toxicology laboratories to continuously refine testing capabilities, the frequency at which such designer compounds are determined in doping controls is still comparably low.…”