Correlations between metabolism and structural elements of the alicyclic fentanyl analogs cyclopropyl fentanyl, cyclobutyl fentanyl, cyclopentyl fentanyl, cyclohexyl fentanyl and 2,2,3,3-tetramethylcyclopropyl fentanyl studied by human hepatocytes and LC-QTOF-MS

Recently, a number of fentanyl analogs have been implicated in overdose deaths in Europe and in the US. So far, little is known of the molecular behavior of the structurally related subgroup; the alicyclic fentanyls. In this study, reference standards of cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, and 2,2,3,3-tetramethylcyclopropyl fentanyl (TMCPF) at a final concentration of 5 µM were incubated with cryopreserved human hepatocytes (1 × 10(6) cells/mL) for 0, 1, 3 and 5 h. The metabolites formed were identified by liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis. The most abundant biotransformation found was N-dealkylation (formation of normetabolites) and oxidation of the alicyclic rings. As ring size increased, the significance of N-dealkylation decreased in favor of alicyclic ring oxidation. An example of this was cyclopropyl fentanyl, with a three-carbon ring, whose normetabolite covered 82% of the total metabolic peak area and no oxidation of the alicyclic ring was observed. In contrast, TMCPF, with a seven-carbon ring structure, rendered as much as 85% of its metabolites oxidized on the alicyclic ring. Other biotransformations found included oxidation of the piperidine ethyl moiety and/or the phenethyl substructure, glucuronidation as well as amide hydrolysis to form metabolites identical to despropionyl fentanyl. Taken together, this study provides a base for understanding the metabolism of a number of structurally related fentanyl analogs formed upon intake. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00204-018-2330-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.