Quantification of Cathinone Analogues without Reference Standard Using 1H Quantitative NMR

Synthetic cathinones are a type of new psychoactive substances (NPS) that have been seriously abused. Owing to the rapid variation in their structures, absence reference standards poses challenge quantitative investigations. In this study, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H qNMR) method was established using maleic acid as internal standard and shared signal (i.e., methylidyne hydrogen) on parent synthetic structure peak. Taking 3-methoxy-2-(methylamino)-1-(4-methylphenyl)propan-1-one (mexedrone) an example, study optimized acquisition parameters conducted validation, including evaluation specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, robustness. Using qNMR method, contents mexedrone its analogues, 1-(3-chlorophenyl)-2-(ethylamino)-propan-1-one (3-CEC), 4-chloro-α-pyrroli-dinopropiophenone (4-Cl-α-PVP), 1-(3,4-methylenedioxy-phenyl)-2-propylamino-propan-1-one (propylone), methcathinone, were obtained. The obtained results showed accurate, rapid, versatile, can be used address qualitative issues related similar substances.