Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

Metabolic profile of 25E-NBOH in human liver microsomes, rat urine, and fungus Cunninghamella elegans.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis August 1, 2026 Magdaléna Vágnerová, Petr Palivec, Monika Mrňavá et al.

N-benzylphenethylamines are a class of new psychoactive substances (NPS) that are increasingly being used as recreational drugs with a wide range of adverse effects, possibly even death. Currently, the appearance of new N-benzylphenethylamines far outweighs the studies of their metabolism. One of such compounds, 25E-NBOH, has been on the market for the last seven years but its pharmacological...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2026.117417 Full text 25e-nboh Cunninghamella elegans Human liver microsomes Lc-hrms +4

Development and validation of a UPLC-MS/MS method for real-time neuropharmacokinetic monitoring of iboga alkaloids in rat brain.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis June 24, 2026 Scot Mcintosh, Isabella Maldonado, Nickalus C Smith et al.

Iboga alkaloids, including ibogaine, its primary metabolite noribogaine, and the naturally occurring congener ibogamine, have shown promise for the treatment of substance use and other neuropsychiatric disorders but are limited by cardiotoxic effects. Safer synthetic analogs, such as oxa-noribogaine, are under active development; however, validated analytical methods for quantifying these...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2026.117630 Full text Bioanalytical method validation Brain microdialysis Iboga alkaloids Neuropharmacokinetics +1

Pharmacokinetics and brain distribution of ketamine after nasal administration.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis October 15, 2025 Zihe Yang, Linjie Li, Bin Deng et al. 3 citations

Major depressive disorder is a severe mental condition characterized by abnormalities in the structure and function of the brain. Ketamine is a novel antidepressant that has rapid effects on depression. This drug is clinically used to treat depression in patients with acute suicidal ideation or behavior. It is typically administered at a dose of 84 mg. However, the distribution of ketamine in...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2025.116945 Full text Brain region distribution Hplc-ms/ms Intranasal administration Pharmacokinetics +5

Chiral analysis of ketamine enantiomers in human urine and hair: Application to authentic cases of ketamine use.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis August 15, 2025 Zhen Zhang, Yan Shi, Meiting Lin et al.

Ketamine, which possesses important anesthesia and antidepressant properties, has been used clinically in its racemate form. In the 1990s, the single enantiomer S-ketamine began to be used for clinical use. In 2019, an antidepressant S-ketamine hydrochloride nasal spray hit the market. Therefore, a method for chiral analysis of ketamine is particularly important, as this could reveal the types...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2025.116824 Full text Drug testing Ketamine analysis Pharmaceutical analysis Chiral separation +5

Guilty by dissociation: Part C: Enantiomeric separation of diphenidine-derived new psychoactive substances (NPS) by polar organic chiral high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on polysaccharide-based stationary phases.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis June 15, 2025 Melvin R Euerby, Benjamin S Barrett, Andrew Costello et al.

This study describes a simple and practical HPLC analysis for the direct enantiomeric separation of a range of 32 novel diphenidine derived psychoactive substances using a range of six polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases employing a single generic polar organic solvent chromatographic mobile phase. Temperature was employed to optimize the chemo and enantiomeric selectivity. Baseline...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2025.116728 Full text Chiral hplc Diphenidine regioisomers Forensic Illicit drugs +1

Metabolism and cytotoxicity studies of the two hallucinogens 1cP-LSD and 4-AcO-DET in human liver and zebrafish larvae models using LC-HRMS/MS and a high-content screening assay.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis August 1, 2024 Tanja M Gampfer, Victoria Schütz, Philip Schippers et al. 11 citations

The continuous emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) attracted a great deal of attention within recent years. Lately, the two hallucinogenic NPS 1cP-LSD and 4-AcO-DET have appeared on the global market. Knowledge about their metabolism to identify potential metabolic targets for analysis and their cytotoxic properties is lacking. The aim of this work was thus to study their in vitro...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116187 Full text Cytotoxicity Hepg2 Lc-hrms/ms New psychoactive substances +5

Target analysis of psychoactive drugs in oral fluid by QuEChERS extraction and LC-MS/MS.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis July 15, 2024 Ettore Ferrari Júnior, Victor Souza Bitencourt, Ágatha Beatriz Mariano de Souza et al. 9 citations

This study aimed to validate a modified QuEChERS method, followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, for the determination of 51 psychoactive substances and screening of 22 ones in oral fluid from electronic dance music party (EDM) attendees. Unstimulated oral fluid was collected in a polypropylene tube and stored in a glass vial at -20 ºC. The sample was extracted with...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116139 Full text Lc-ms/ms Oral fluid Drug testing Substance analysis +3

Validation and application of a method for the quantification of 137 drugs of abuse and new psychoactive substances in hair.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis June 15, 2024 Rossella Barone, Guido Pelletti, Arianna Giorgetti et al. 22 citations

In the dynamic universe of new psychoactive substances (NPS), the identification of multiple and chemically diverse compounds remains a challenge for forensic laboratories. Since hair analysis represents a gold-standard to assess the prevalence of NPS, which are commonly detected together with classical drugs of abuse (DoA), our study aimed at developing a wide-screen method to detect and...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116054 Full text Forensic toxicology Hair testing Mass spectrometry Novel psychoactive substances +3

A combined toxicokinetic and metabolic approach to investigate deschloro-N-ethylketamine exposure in a multidrug user.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis June 15, 2024 Romain Magny, Bruno Mégarbane, Lucie Chevillard et al. 7 citations

The use of new psychoactive substances derived from ketamine is rarely reported in France. A chronic GHB, 3-MMC, and methoxetamine consumer presented a loss of consciousness in a chemsex context and was referred to the intensive care unit with a rapid and favorable outcome. To investigate the chemicals responsible for the intoxication, a comprehensive analysis was conducted on the ten plasma...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116086 Full text 2-deschloro-n-ethylketamine Arylcyclohexylamine Molecular networking Multidrug user +7

Optimization of enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantitative determination of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and its phase-1 metabolites in human biological fluids.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis June 15, 2024 Giorgia Sprega, Giorgi Kobidze, Alfredo Fabrizio Lo Faro et al. 4 citations

Recently we published in this journal an enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the quantitative determination of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and its major phase-1 metabolites, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyamphetamine (HMA), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethamphetamine (HMMA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) in human plasma, sweat,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116076 Full text Chiral hplc Enantioselective metabolism Enantioseparation Hydrolysis of glucuronides +6

Biotransformation of 5-methoxy-N-isopropyl-N-methyltryptamine by zebrafish and human liver microsome with high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis April 15, 2024 Yanjiao Wang, Chenhao Zhong, Jinyuan Chen et al.

To explore the metabolites of 5-Methoxy-N-isopropyl-N-methyltryptamine (5-MeO-MiPT) and unveil its toxicological effects, we examined its metabolic profiles using zebrafish and human liver microsome models. Employing ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-QE-HRMS), we analyzed samples from intoxicated zebrafish...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.115987 Full text Biotransformation Human liver microsome Metabolite pathway Uplc-qe-hrms +1

A fatal case of aspiration due to consumption of the hallucinogenic tryptamine derivative dipropyltryptamine (DPT).

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis March 15, 2024 Merja A. Neukamm, Stefan Pollak, Vanessa Thoma et al. 5 citations

This case involves a 20-year-old man with prior hallucinogen-use experience, who sniffed an unknown amount of dipropyltryptamine in an apartment. Dipropyltryptamine, a hallucinogenic compound belonging to the tryptamine class is recognized for inducing effects similar to dimethyltryptamine (DMT) but with a longer duration. Ten to fifteen minutes later he experienced visual hallucinations,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2023.115959 Full text Circulatory collapse Hallucinogenic tryptamine Nasal drug ingestion Seizure +5

Development of enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantitative determination of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and its phase-1 metabolites in human biological fluids.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis January 20, 2024 Alfredo Fabrizio Lo Faro, Giorgia Sprega, Diletta Beradinelli et al. 14 citations

In the present study enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods were developed for the quantitative determination of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and its major phase-1 metabolites 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyamphetamine (HMA), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethamphetamine (HMMA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) in human plasma, sweat,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2023.115768 Full text Chiral hplc Enantioselective metabolism

Hair-based rapid UPLC-MS/MS analysis of 36 phencyclidine-type substances in forensic cases.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis September 20, 2023 Ziyi Li, Zehong Li, Wanting Xie et al. 13 citations

Phencyclidine (PCP) is a frequently abused dissociative agent. It causes confusion, increased tendencies toward violence, and concentration-dependent cytotoxicity after entry into the body. The parent nucleus of phencyclidine-type substances is arylcyclohexylamine, which is easy to modify; therefore, abusers and dealers can readily synthesize substitutes beyond the drug control catalog. An...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2023.115577 Full text Authentic forensic cases Human hair Phencyclidine-type substances Uplc-ms/ms

Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of mescaline and major metabolites in human plasma

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis August 1, 2022 Jan Thomann, Laura Ley, Aaron Klaiber et al. 23 citations

Mescaline is a psychedelic phenethylamine found in different species of cacti. Currently, mescaline's acute subjective effects and pharmacokinetics are investigated in several modern clinical studies. Therefore, we developed a bioanalytical method for the rapid quantification of mescaline and its metabolites in human plasma. Mescaline and its metabolites 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetic acid...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2022.114980 Mescaline Chromatography Desmethyl Metabolite +4

Guilty by dissociation: Part B: evaluation of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC-UV) for the analysis of regioisomeric diphenidine-derived Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS).

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis July 15, 2022 Graeme Cochrane, Jennifer K Field, Matthew C Hulme et al. 9 citations

Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC-UV) employing a carbon dioxide (CO2) and 10 mM ammonium acetate in MeOH-water (95:5 v/v) gradient provides a rapid analysis (tG <10 min) of 31 novel, regioisomeric diphenidine-derived psychoactive substances, on a range of stationary phases of differing polarity. Medium to large selectivity differences between regioisomers, were observed on the acidic,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2022.114797 Full text Diphenidines Forensic Illicit drugs Novel psychoactive substances +2

Guilty by dissociation: Part A: Development of a rapid Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC)-MS/MS methodology for the analysis of regioisomeric diphenidine-derived Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS).

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis July 15, 2022 Jennifer K Field, Christine Hinz, Christopher M Titman et al. 4 citations

This study describes the first reported development of a rapid, generic gradient Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) methodology with targeted triple quadrupole MS/MS using electrospray positive ionisation to detect and unambiguously confirm the identity of 33 substituted 1, 2-diarylethamine (or diphenidine) derivatives in solid drug samples. The in-house synthesised library...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2022.114798 Full text Diphenidines Forensic Illicit drugs Novel psychoactive substances +2

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine quantification via benchtop 1H qNMR spectroscopy: Method validation and its application to ecstasy tablets collected at music festivals.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis May 30, 2022 Anca Frinculescu, Alexander F G Maier, Trevor Shine et al.

We describe a method validation for the quantification of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in tablets based on the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) guideline for quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance analysis (qNMR). qNMR experiments were carried out on a 60 MHz benchtop NMR spectrometer employing ethylene carbonate as an internal calibrant. A series of 'ecstasy'...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2022.114728 Full text MDMA Benchtop nmr Illicit drug analysis Method validation +2

Heart-cutting two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry for determination of N,N-dimethyltryptamine in rat plasma and brain; Method development and application

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis September 9, 2020 Tímea Körmöczi, Írisz Szabó, Eszter Farkas et al. 15 citations

The orthogonal heart-cutting liquid chromatography (LC) modes coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HRMS/MS) provide a number of possibilities to enhance selectivity and sensitivity for the determination of targeted compounds in complex biological matricies. Here we report the development of a new fast 2D-LC-(HRMS/MS) method and its successful application for quantitative...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2020.113615

Immunochemical monitoring of psilocybin and psilocin to identify hallucinogenic mushrooms

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis July 21, 2020 Izumi Morita, Hiroyuki Oyama, Yuki Kiguchi et al. 17 citations

Development of rapid and reliable immunochemical methods for monitoring psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine; Pyb) and psilocin (dephosphorylated metabolite; Psi), the psychoactive compounds contained within hallucinogenic mushrooms (magic mushrooms), is desirable in order to identify these mushrooms and regulate their illicit use. Because no antibody was publicly available for...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2020.113485 Psilocybin Hallucinogen Monoclonal antibody Metabolite +3

Biomedical analysis of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) of natural origin.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis February 5, 2020 Alfredo Fabrizio Lo Faro, Annagiulia Di Trana, Nunzia La Maida et al. 45 citations

New psychoactive substances (NPS) can be divided into two main groups: synthetic molecules and active principles of natural origin. With respect to this latter group, a wide range of alkaloids contained in plants, mainly from Asia and South America, can be included in the class of NPS of natural origin. The majority NPS of natural origin presents stimulant and/or hallucinogenic effects (e.g....

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2019.112945 Full text Alkaloids Biomedical analysis Plants Natural psychoactive substances +1

Validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the quantitative analysis of 1P-LSD and its tentative metabolite LSD in fortified urine and serum samples including stability tests for 1P-LSD under different storage conditions

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis May 28, 2019 Christina Grumann, Kerstin Henkel, Alexander Stratford et al. 27 citations

A variety of hallucinogens of the lysergamide type has emerged on the drug market in recent years and one such uncontrolled derivative of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is 1-propionyl-LSD (1P-LSD). Due to the high potency of LSD and some of its derivatives (common doses: 50-200 μg), sensitive methods are required for the analysis of biological samples such as serum and urine. The occurrence...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2019.05.062 Full text Metabolite Chromatography Urine Quantitative analysis chemistry +1

Metabolic fate and detectability of the new psychoactive substances 2-(4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)- N- [(2-methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine (25B-NBOMe) and 2-(4-chloro-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)- N- [(2-methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine (25C-NBOMe) in human and rat urine by GC–MS, LC–MS n , and LC–HR–MS/MS approaches

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis November 27, 2016 Achim T. Caspar, Simon D. Brandt, Andreas E. Stoever et al. 43 citations

25B-NBOMe and 25C-NBOMe are potent 5-HT2A receptor agonists that have been associated with inducing hallucinogenic effects in drug users and severe intoxications. This paper describes the identification of their metabolites in rat and human urine by liquid chromatography (LC)-high resolution (HR)-MS/MS, the comparison of metabolite formation in vitro and in vivo and in different species, the...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2016.11.040 Full text Glucuronidation Designer drug Metabolite Hydroxylation +14

DNA-based taxonomic identification of basidiospores in hallucinogenic mushrooms cultivated in “grow-kits” seized by the police: LC-UV quali-quantitative determination of psilocybin and psilocin

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis March 23, 2016 Veniero Gambaro, Gabriella Roda, Giacomo Luca Visconti et al. 17 citations

The taxonomic identification of the biological material contained in the hallucinogenic mushrooms culture media, was carried out using a DNA-based approach, thus highlighting the usefulness of this approach in the forensic identification of illegal samples also when they are present as basidiospores mixed in culture media and spore-bearing fruiting body are not present. This approach is very...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2016.03.043 Psilocybin Chromatography Mushroom Hallucinogen

Ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry determination of hallucinogenic drugs in hair of psychedelic plants and mushrooms consumers.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis November 1, 2014 Simona Pichini, Emilia Marchei, Oscar García-algar et al. 44 citations

A procedure based on ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the determination of mescaline, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, psilocin, psilocybin, salvinorin A in hair of consumers of psychedelic vegetal material such peyote or trichocereus cacti, psilocybe mushrooms, Salvia divinorum or psychedelic beverage ayahuasca. After hair washing with methyl...

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2014.08.006 Full text Mescaline Psilocin Salvinorin a Hair testing +10

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