Transcript Monitoring Precursor Chemicals of Methamphetamine through

MONITORING PRECURSOR
CHEMICALS OF METHAMPHETAMINE
THROUGH ENANTIOMER PROFILING
Laura Fairburn and
Mike Rusak
OVERVIEW
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What are Methamphetamines?
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Methods of Synthesis
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Different Stereoisomers
Enantiomer Profiling
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Precursor Compounds
How it is done
How they source the drugs using it
Methamphetamines in the Legal
System
WHAT ARE METHAMPHETAMINES?
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A class of compounds with a
phenylethylamine core and a
methyl group on the alpha
carbon
• Contains a methyl
substituted off the amine
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Very similar structure to
epinephrine
STEREOISOMERS OF
METHAMPHETAMINE
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R-enantiomer
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S-enantiomer
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Decongestant in nasal inhalers
Precursor for manufacturing l-deprenyl
5 times more active than R
Predominantly used as a stimulant
Although the S-enantiomer is far more
popular, the appearance of the R-enantiomer
continuing to grow within mixtures
SOURCES OF EACH ENANTIOMER
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S(+)-methamphetamine
• 1R,2S(-)-ephedrine, 1S-2S(+)pseudophedrine have same C-2
configuration, so can be used as
precursors for
R(-)-methamphetamine
• 1R,2R(-)-methylpseudoephedrine,
1S,2R(+)-methylephedrine
Mixtures of both exhibit high purity with little
trace amounts of ephedrine compounds
PRECURSOR COMPOUNDS
“Nagai” Route using Red Phosphorus
Reductive Amination
WHAT IS ENANTIOMER
PROFILING?
• Most routinely used in Methamphetamine
due to chiral nature
• Determination of the ratio of the chiral
isomers in order to understand the
precursors used
• With use of statistics, it can help understand
smuggling patterns internationally
TECHNIQUE USED FOR ENANTIOMER
PROFILING
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For this study, 433 different samples were
tested and compared to two standards of R
and S methamphetamine-d5.
GS-MS was used
Sample Preparation
• A variety of standard solutions of both
enantiomers were used
Calculation of LOD and R(-)-enantiomer
ratio
ENANTIOMER RATIOS OF METHAMPHETAMINE
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USE OF ENANTIOMER PROFILING TO SOURCE
MANUFACTURERS
• As R-(-) sources weren’t as strictly regulate, the
appearance of them in methamphetamines dramatically
increased as year past
• This also could mean changes in smuggling routes and
external sources
METHAMPHETAMINES IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM
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Arrests have increasing substantially over
the 10 years
More strict regulations temporarily resulted
in a drop in manufacturers
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Large-scale producers weren’t affected, while
small-scale producers were hit hard
LEGAL REGULATIONS OF METHAMPHETAMINES
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It is an Illegal Substance in Canada and the
United States
Regulations can be altered to relate to
current methods of synthesis and smuggling
routes
• Both which can be determined through
the technique of enantiomer profiling
CONCLUSION
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Enantiomer Profiling is well suited for
rapid and simultaneous determination of
enantiomers of amphetamine, phenol
alkylamines and hydroxyamines
It is the standard for testing a very
predominant, increasingly popular drug