IDENTIFICATION OF 3,4-METHYLENEDIOXYAMPHETAMINE ANALOGS ENCOUNTERED IN CLANDESTINE TABLETS

Recently, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine derivatives have been encounte red in the Italian illicit market, mainly in form of tablets, Among th is class of substances small modifications of the molecule may result in a wide range of derivatives and analogs some of which are nor yet l isted as controlled substances in the Italian schedules. Due to the st ructural similarity some of these molecules have a gas chromatographic behavior and mass spectra that only slightly differ. In the present w ork, an analytical strategy is proposed to achieve the identification of analogs within this class of molecules, In seized material sent by the Court of Law of Rome to our laboratories a number of tablets engra ved with different symbols (e,g., 'Dollar', 'Fido Dido' and 'Bomb') we re submitted to analysis in order to establish whether they contained drugs of abuse. The analytical techniques employed for this purpose we re UV spectrophotometry and thin-layer chromatography which provided i nformation suggesting that the tablets contained a methylenedioxyamphe tamine. Gas chromatography with flame ionization detection indicated t hat the main ingredient differed from the molecules of the same class already known. Finally, capillary gas chromatographic-mass spectrometr ic analysis of the native molecules and their pentafluoropropionic aci d derivatives, performed with both, electron impact and chemical ioniz ation, allowed the identification: in each tablet, of three molecules: the N-methyl-1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-(MDP-2-MB, MBDB), the 1-( 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-butanamine (MDP-2-B) and the dimethyl-1-(3 ,3-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-butanamine (MDP-2-MMB). (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience Ireland Ltd.