title: Degradation in soil of precursors and by-products associated with the illicit manufacture of methylamphetamine: implications for clandestine drug laboratory investigation.
abstract: Key precursors and by-products in the Leuckardt, Nagai and dissolving metal reductive syntheses of methylamphetamine undergo degradation in soil as a result of biotic and abiotic processes. Furthermore, methylamphetamine is a product of the degradation of 1-(1',4'-cyclohexadienyl)-2-methylaminopropane and N-formylmethylamphetamine. These findings have implications for the forensic assessment of buried residues recovered from clandestine laboratory sites because markers used to infer the synthetic methods used might be absent as a result of degradation and because methylamphetamine might be present in residues as a result of degradation rather than as a direct result of its manufacture in the laboratory.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Raktim
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: Mallavarapu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Megharaj
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naidu
authors.forename: Gunter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Klass
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: K Paul
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kirkbride