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Rapid Identification of Synthetic Cannabinoids in Herbal Incenses with DART ‐ MS and NMR
Author(s) -
Marino Michael A.,
Voyer Brandy,
Cody Robert B.,
Dane A. John,
Veltri Mercurio,
Huang Ling
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12932
Subject(s) - dart , synthetic cannabinoids , identification (biology) , chemistry , biology , cannabinoid , biochemistry , computer science , botany , receptor , programming language
The usage of herbal incenses containing synthetic cannabinoids has caused an increase in medical incidents and triggered legislations to ban these products throughout the world. Law enforcement agencies are experiencing sample backlogs due to the variety of the products and the addition of new and still‐legal compounds. In our study, proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( NMR ) spectroscopy was employed to promptly screen the synthetic cannabinoids after their rapid, direct detection on the herbs and in the powders by direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry ( DART ‐ MS ). A simple sample preparation protocol was employed on 50 mg of herbal sample matrices for quick NMR detection. Ten synthetic cannabinoids were discovered in fifteen herbal incenses. The combined DART ‐ MS and NMR methods can be used to quickly screen synthetic cannabinoids in powder and herbal samples, serving as a complementary approach to conventional GC ‐ MS or LC ‐ MS methods.