title: Evaluation of characteristic deuterium distributions of ephedrines and methamphetamines by NMR spectroscopy for drug profiling.
abstract: We have established a method for quantitative analysis of the deuterium contents (D/H) at the phenyl, methine, benzyl, N-methyl and methyl groups of l-ephedrine/HCl, d-pseudoephedrine/HCl and methamphetamine/HCl by 2H NMR spectroscopy. Comparison of the 5 position-specific D/H values of l-ephedrine/HCl and d-pseudoephedrine/HCl prepared by three methods (chemical synthesis, semichemical synthesis, and biosynthesis) showed that chemically synthesized ephedrines and semisynthetic ephedrines have highly specific distributions of deuterium at the methine position and at the benzyl position, compared with the other positions. The classification of several methamphetamine samples seized in Japan in terms of the D/H values at these two positions clearly showed that the methamphetamine samples had been synthesized from ephedrines extracted from Ephedra plants or semisynthetic ephedrines but not from synthetic ephedrine. This isotope ratio analysis method should be useful to trace the origins of seized methamphetamine in Southeast Asia.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Health Sciences, 1-18-1 Kamiyoga, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Teruki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Yasuteru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Urano
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Makino
authors.forename: Ruri
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kikura-Hanajiri
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawahara
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goda
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagano
mesh_terms: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003903:Deuterium / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D004809:Ephedrine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D007564:Japan; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D008694:Methamphetamine; D003903:Deuterium; D004809:Ephedrine