Organic impurity profiling of fentanyl samples associated with recent clandestine laboratory methods.

Nearly a decade ago, fentanyl reappeared in the United States illicit drug market. In the years since, overdose deaths have continued to rise as well as the amount of fentanyl seized by law enforcement agencies. Research surrounding fentanyl production has been beneficial to regulatory actions and understanding illicit fentanyl production.

Isolation and characterization of a newly identified impurity in methamphetamine synthesized via reductive amination of 1-phenyl-2-propanone (P2P) made from phenylacetic acid/lead (II) acetate.

A trace processing impurity found in certain methamphetamine exhibits was isolated and identified as trans-N-methyl-4-methyl-5-phenyl-4-penten-2-amine hydrochloride (1). It was determined that this impurity was produced via reductive amination of trans-4-methyl-5-phenyl-4-penten-2-one (4), which was one of a cluster of related ketones generated during the synthesis of 1-phenyl-2-propanone (P2P) from phenylacetic acid and lead (II) acetate. This two-step sequence resulted in methamphetamine containing elevated levels of 1.