Impact of pharmaceutical impurities in ecstasy tablets: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry study

ABSTRACT

In this study, a simple and reliable method by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry [GC-MS] was developed for the fast and regular identification of 3, 4-MDMA impurities in ecstasy tablets. In so doing, 8 samples of impurities were extracted by diethyl ether under alkaline condition and then analyzed by GC-MS. The results revealed high MDMA levels ranging from 37.6% to 57.7%. The GC-MS method showed that unambiguous identification can be achieved for MDMA from 3, 4-methylenedioxyamphetamine [MDA], Amphetamine [AM], methamphetamine [MA] and ketamine [Keta] compounds, respectively. The experimental results indicated the acceptable time window without interfering peaks. It is found that GC-MS was provided a suitable and rapid identification approach for MDMA [Ecstacy] tablets, particularly in the Forensic labs. Consequently, the intense MDMA levels would support the police to develop a simple quantification of impurity in Ecstasy tablets