Determination of MDPBP in postmortem blood samples by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry

ABSTRACT: MDPBP (1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)-1-butanone) is a new psychoactive substance sold on the black market. It has been a controlled drug of abuse in Poland and China since 2015 as some toxic and fatal cases connected with use of synthetic cathinone derivatives were observed. The fatal case outlined here concerns a 19-year-old man, who was found dead with an envelope containing white powder lying nearby the cadaver. The analyses of the powder revealed a presence of MDPBP. Due to this, blood was tested for routine toxicological analysis for traditional drugs and for MDPBP by liquid–liquid extraction procedure with 1-chlorobutane followed by GC–MS analysis. Full validation of proposed method was performed. Limit of detection and limit of quantification were 10.1 and 30.4 ng/cm(3), respectively. Calibration curve was linear in studied concentration range (25–1000 ng/cm(3)) with a correlation coefficient 0.9946. The trueness and inter-day precision expressed as recoveries and CV values were investigated at 3 concentrations: 25, 250, and 1000 ng/cm(3). The CV values were less than 20 % in the lowest concentration and less than 15 % in other concentrations what met the internationally established acceptance criteria for bioanalytical methods. It indicates good precision and accuracy of the method. The analysis of blood sample showed very high concentration of MDPBP (9.32 µg/cm(3)), which suggests possibility of overdosing. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work which presents determination of MDPBP in blood by GC-EI-MS method and the third fatal accident report of MDPBP abuse. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text]