Cannabis is an important industrial plant, in addition to its illicit drug use. Compound Δ 9 -THC (Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol) is mainly responsible for the hallucinogenic effect on humans. The aminoalkylindole group cannabimimetics targets at the same physiological receptors to mimic the analgesic effects of Δ 9 -THC. Since there is no reliable colorimetric test to detect these synthetic cannabimimetics on site, a simple colorimetric assay for (aminoalkyl)indole group-containing drugs was developed, based on the silica/sulfuric acid-catalyzed Ehrlich reaction of (aminoalkyl)indoles with p-dimethyl aminobenzaldehyde. The electrophilic substitution reaction of indoles with carbonyl compounds resulting in the formation of bis(indolyl)alkanes in an acid-catalyzed reaction has been used for the first time for their spectrophotometric determination by color change from yellow to purple/blue. The method was statistically validated against liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, and applied to certain (aminoalkyl)indole derivatives, with 0.5 - 2.5 μg mL -1 detection limits for AM-2201, JWH-081, MAM-2201, JWH-018, JWH-210, JWH-122, 5F-PB-22 and XLR-11.
CITATION STYLE
Durmuş, H., Durmazel, S., üzer, A., Gökdere, B., Erçağ, E., & Apak, R. (2018). Colorimetric determination of (aminoalkyl)indole-containing synthetic cannabimimetics. Analytical Sciences, 34(12), 1419–1425. https://doi.org/10.2116/analsci.18P305
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