Profiling of new psychoactive substances by using stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry: Study of the synthetic cannabinoid 5F-PB-22.

In this paper, the results of a pilot study on the profiling of the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist 5F-PB-22 (5F-QUPIC, pentylfluoro-1H-indole-3-carboxylic acid-8-quinolinyl ester) via isotope ratio mass spectrometry are presented. It focuses on δ13 C, δ15 N and δ2 H isotope ratios, which are determined using elemental analyser (EA) and high temperature elemental analyser (TC/EA) coupled to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS). By means of a sample of pure material of 5F-PB-22, it is shown that the extraction of 5F-PB-22 from herbal material, a rapid clean-up procedure, or preparative column chromatography had no influence on the isotope ratios. Furthermore, 5F-PB-22 was extracted from 14 different herbal blend samples ("Spice products" from police seizures) and analysed via IRMS, yielding 3 clusters containing 7, 5, and 2 samples, distinguishable through their isotopic composition, respectively. It is assumed that herbal blends in each cluster have been manufactured from individual batches of 5F-PB-22.