title: Basic and neutral route specific impurities in MDMA prepared by different synthesis methods. Comparison of impurity profiles.
abstract: In this work, the neutral and basic impurities found in the precipitate of MDMA(*)HCl are presented. MDMA.HCl was prepared by the most popular synthesis methods used in clandestine manufacture, i.e. safrole bromination, Leuckart method and reductive amination with various reducing agents: Al/Hg, NaBH(4), NaBH(3)CN. 3,4-Methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone (MDP-2-P), the starting material in Leuckart reaction and reductive amination, was prepared by two different synthesis methods, i.e. by isosafrole oxidation and MDP-2-nitropropene reduction. The extraction of impurities was performed under alkaline and neutral conditions. Impurity profiles were obtained using GC/MS. Each synthesis method is characterised by its own route specific impurities. The influence of pH on the extraction of synthesis markers from 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) samples is discussed and comparison of the profiles of basic and neutral impurities is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 3, 30-060 Krakow, Poland. brozek@chemia.uj.edu.pl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Swist
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wilamowski
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parczewski