title: Fatal mephedrone intoxication--a case report.
abstract: A death caused by a new designer drug, 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone), is reported. Eight small plastic bags containing white powder were found in the jacket of a young dead male. Spot tests conducted by the police officer indicated the presence of 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) in the powders. Laboratory routine screening analyses of blood and vitreous humor did not reveal any positive results; therefore, 2C-B was excluded. Analysis of powders was conducted using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-pressure liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The purity of mephedrone found in all powder samples was in the range of 80.4-87.3%. In connection with these findings, blood and vitreous humor samples were analyzed for mephedrone. Analyses were conducted using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Mephedrone was found in blood and vitreous humor at the concentrations of 5.5 and 7.1 µg/mL, respectively, revealing that this was a fatal mephedrone intoxication.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Research, Westerplatte 9, 31-033 Krakow, Poland. padamowicz@ies.krakow.pl
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Adamowicz
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tokarczyk
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stanaszek
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slopianka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D015198:Designer Drugs / Q000506:poisoning*; D004118:Dimethoxyphenylethylamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000506:poisoning; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D015198:Designer Drugs; D004118:Dimethoxyphenylethylamine; D008694:Methamphetamine; C548233:mephedrone; C079321:2-(4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)ethylamine