title: Leuckart-specific impurities in amphetamine and methamphetamine seized in Norway.
abstract: Samples of 28 amphetamine and 7 methamphetamine seizures, taken in Norway from 1975 to 1982, were examined. The amphetamine and methamphetamine contents varied from 9 to 99 per cent and from 9 to 72 per cent respectively. Impurities originating from the synthesis of the illicit samples were identified by gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. Special attention was paid to "Leuckart-specific" impurities, which could indicate that the Leuckart method of amphetamine and methamphetamine synthesis had been used. N-formyl-methamphetamine, a Leuckart-specific compound, was identified in all the investigated samples of methamphetamine seized in Norway. The Leuckart-specific impurities, 4-methyl-5-phenyl-pyrimidine and N-formyl-amphetamine, were identified in 79 per cent of the amphetamine samples.
mesh_terms: D000661:Amphetamine / Q000032:analysis*; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D004340:Drug Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000032:analysis*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009664:Norway; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D008694:Methamphetamine; D000661:Amphetamine