In the last few years the sale of legal highs, often analogues of scheduled narcotics, has become increasingly prevalent.  Because these chemicals are not illegal, customers believe that they are safer and purer than street drugs.  However, this is often not the case, as in the recently scheduled synthetic marihuanas and bath salts. Five compounds were purchased on the internet and analyzed using gas chromatography�mass spectrometry (GC-MS), attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), electrospray ionization-mass spectroscopy, and nuclear resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Of the five substances, four of were sold by name: 1-benzofuran-6-ylpropan-2-amine (6-APB), 2-(3-methoxyphenyl)-2-(ethylamino)cyclohexanone (methoxetamine), 2-(ethylamino)-1-(p-tolyl)propan-1-one (4-MEC), and 1-(2-naphthyl)-2-pyrrolidin-1-yl-pentan-1-one (naphyrone). Three were confirmed to be the stated substance while naphyrone was actually triethylamine hydrochloride. The fifth product was as Molly's Ultra Plant Food and the chemical formula was not available on the seller's web pages or other internet sources. It was determined to be 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-(methylamino)-1-butanone, commonly known as butylone.

Analysis and identification of five legal highs

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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