Fatal case of poisoning with a new cathinone derivative: α-propylaminopentiophenone (N-PP)

PURPOSE: Similar to synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinone derivatives are the most popular compounds among novel psychoactive substances. Along with a growing number of new cathinones, the number of consumers wishing to enrich their experience with these compounds is also growing, and the same can be said about the growing numbers of poisonings. The reason for overdosing is a lack of consumer awareness regarding composition of the product, with which they experiment, and even more, regarding concentration of psychoactive substances contained in the taken product. In this paper, we report a case of the purposeful intake of a high dose of powder containing a novel cathinone derivative, α-propylaminopentiophenone, which resulted in the deadly poisoning of a woman. METHODS: Aiming to identify this psychoactive substance causing the fatality, the postmortem specimens collected from the autopsy was analyzed by means of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and the analysis of a powder material found with the victim was additionally analyzed by means of gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. RESULTS: In the course of analysis performed on the specimens originating from autopsy (blood, eyeball fluid, liver, kidney and brain), high concentrations of α-propylaminopentiophenone were established, which was responsible for the death of a young woman. The same psychoactive compound was also identified in the powder material. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first case reported in the literature on fatal poisoning with α-propyloaminopentiophenone.