Differentiation of AB-FUBINACA and its five positional isomers using liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization-linear ion trap mass spectrometry and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Purpose Positional isomer differentiation is crucial for forensic analysis. The aim of this study was to differentiate AB-FUBINACA positional isomers using liquid chromatography (LC)–electrospray ionization (ESI)-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (LIT-MS) and LC–ESI-triple quadrupole mass spectromet...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forensic toxicology 2018-07, Vol.36 (2), p.351-358
Main Authors: Murakami, Takaya, Iwamuro, Yoshiaki, Ishimaru, Reiko, Chinaka, Satoshi, Takayama, Nariaki, Hasegawa, Hiroshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Forensic Medicine
Forensic Science
Medical Law
Medicinal Chemistry
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Original
Original Article
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose Positional isomer differentiation is crucial for forensic analysis. The aim of this study was to differentiate AB-FUBINACA positional isomers using liquid chromatography (LC)–electrospray ionization (ESI)-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (LIT-MS) and LC–ESI-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (QqQ-MS). Methods AB-FUBINACA, its two fluorine positional isomers on the phenyl ring, and three methyl positional isomers in the carboxamide side chain were analyzed by LC–ESI-LIT-MS and LC–ESI-QqQ-MS. Results Four of the positional isomers, excluding AB-FUBINACA and its 3-fluorobenzyl isomer, were chromatographically separated on an ODS column in isocratic mode. ESI-LIT-MS could discriminate only three isomers, i.e., the 2-fluorobenzyl isomer, the N -(1-amino-2-methyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl) isomer, and the N -(1-amino-1-oxobutan-2-yl)- N -methyl isomer, based on their characteristic product ions observed at the MS 3 stage in negative mode. ESI-QqQ-MS differentiated all six isomers in terms of the relative abundances of the product ions that contained the isomeric moieties involved in collision-induced dissociation reactions. The six isomers were more clearly and significantly differentiated upon comparison of the logarithmic values of the product ion abundance ratios as a function of collision energy. Conclusions The present LC–MS methodologies were useful for the differentiation of a series of AB-FUBINACA positional isomers.
ISSN:1860-8965
1860-8973
DOI:10.1007/s11419-018-0410-4