Structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry

Abstract The one-step breakdown and derivatization of a panel of nine fentanyls to yield uniquely tagged products that can be detected by Electron Ionization Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (EI-GC-MS) is presented. The method involves the treatment of the synthetic opioids with 2,2,2-trichloroe...

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Autores principales: Carlos A. Valdez, Roald N. Leif, Robert D. Sanner, Todd H. Corzett, Mark L. Dreyer, Katelyn E. Mason
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Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:19febadc72b24bd0b62e76ca5ee23c3c2021-11-21T12:17:49ZStructural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry10.1038/s41598-021-01896-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/19febadc72b24bd0b62e76ca5ee23c3c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01896-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The one-step breakdown and derivatization of a panel of nine fentanyls to yield uniquely tagged products that can be detected by Electron Ionization Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (EI-GC-MS) is presented. The method involves the treatment of the synthetic opioids with 2,2,2-trichloroethoxycarbonyl chloride (TrocCl) at 60 °C for 3 h in dichloromethane and furnishes two products from one fentanyl molecule that can be used to retrospectively identify the original opioid. Parameters that were studied and fully optimized for the method included temperature, solvent, nature of scavenging base and reaction time. One of the two resulting products from the reaction bears the trichloroethoxycarbonyl (Troc) tag attached to the norfentanyl portion of the original opioid and greatly aids in the opioid detection and identification process. The methodology has been applied to the chemical modification of a panel of nine fentanyls and in all cases the molecular ion peak for the Troc-norfentanyl product bearing the distinctive trichloroethyl isotopic signature can be clearly observed. The method’s LLOD was determined to be 10 ng/mL while its LLOQ was found to be 20 ng/mL. This methodology represents the first application of chloroformates in the chemical modification of this class of synthetic opioids that are notoriously inert to common derivatization strategies available for GC–MS analysis.Carlos A. ValdezRoald N. LeifRobert D. SannerTodd H. CorzettMark L. DreyerKatelyn E. MasonNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Carlos A. Valdez
Roald N. Leif
Robert D. Sanner
Todd H. Corzett
Mark L. Dreyer
Katelyn E. Mason
Structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry
description Abstract The one-step breakdown and derivatization of a panel of nine fentanyls to yield uniquely tagged products that can be detected by Electron Ionization Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (EI-GC-MS) is presented. The method involves the treatment of the synthetic opioids with 2,2,2-trichloroethoxycarbonyl chloride (TrocCl) at 60 °C for 3 h in dichloromethane and furnishes two products from one fentanyl molecule that can be used to retrospectively identify the original opioid. Parameters that were studied and fully optimized for the method included temperature, solvent, nature of scavenging base and reaction time. One of the two resulting products from the reaction bears the trichloroethoxycarbonyl (Troc) tag attached to the norfentanyl portion of the original opioid and greatly aids in the opioid detection and identification process. The methodology has been applied to the chemical modification of a panel of nine fentanyls and in all cases the molecular ion peak for the Troc-norfentanyl product bearing the distinctive trichloroethyl isotopic signature can be clearly observed. The method’s LLOD was determined to be 10 ng/mL while its LLOQ was found to be 20 ng/mL. This methodology represents the first application of chloroformates in the chemical modification of this class of synthetic opioids that are notoriously inert to common derivatization strategies available for GC–MS analysis.
format article
author Carlos A. Valdez
Roald N. Leif
Robert D. Sanner
Todd H. Corzett
Mark L. Dreyer
Katelyn E. Mason
author_facet Carlos A. Valdez
Roald N. Leif
Robert D. Sanner
Todd H. Corzett
Mark L. Dreyer
Katelyn E. Mason
author_sort Carlos A. Valdez
title Structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry
title_short Structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry
title_full Structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry
title_fullStr Structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry
title_full_unstemmed Structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry
title_sort structural modification of fentanyls for their retrospective identification by gas chromatographic analysis using chloroformate chemistry
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/19febadc72b24bd0b62e76ca5ee23c3c
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