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Identification of Eight Synthetic Cannabinoids, Including 5F‐AKB48 in Seized Herbal Products Using DART‐TOF‐MS and LC‐QTOF‐MS as Nontargeted Screening Methods
Author(s) -
Moore Katherine N.,
Garvin Demetra,
Thomas Brian F.,
Grabenauer Megan
Publication year - 2017
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 - 10.1111/1556-4029.13367
Subject(s) - synthetic cannabinoids , dart , dart ion source , identification (biology) , traditional medicine , chromatography , medicine , chemistry , computer science , cannabinoid , biology , ion , receptor , organic chemistry , ionization , electron ionization , programming language , botany
Synthetic cannabinoids are sprayed onto plant material and smoked for their marijuana‐like effects. Clandestine manufacturers modify synthetic cannabinoid structures by creating closely related analogs. Forensic laboratories are tasked with detection of these analog compounds, but targeted analytical methods are often thwarted by the structural modifications. Here, direct analysis in real time coupled to accurate mass time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (DART‐TOF‐MS) in combination with liquid chromatography quadruple time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (LC‐QTOF‐MS) are presented as a screening and nontargeted confirmation method, respectively. Methanol extracts of herbal material were run using both methods. Spectral data from four different herbal products were evaluated by comparing fragmentation pattern, accurate mass and retention time to available reference standards. JWH ‐018, JWH ‐019, AM 2201, JWH ‐122, 5F‐ AKB 48, AKB48‐N‐(4‐pentenyl) analog, UR 144, and XLR 11 were identified in the products. Results demonstrate that DART ‐ TOF ‐ MS affords a useful approach for rapid screening of herbal products for the presence and identification of synthetic cannabinoids.