Journal of chromatography. A
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Synthetic cannabinoids, recently used as alternatives to Cannabis sativa, are among the most frequently abused drugs. Identified in 2014, the synthetic cannabinoids N-(1-amino-3-methyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide (5F-AB-PINACA) and methyl [1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carbonyl]-valinate (5F-AMB) are carboxamides composed of 1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxylic acid and valine amide/methyl ester. Because of their composition, these molecules have pairs of enantiomers derived from the chiral center of their amino acid structures. ⋯ We synthesized both enantiomers of these compounds and then separated the enantiomers by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry using a column with a chiral stationary phase consisted with amylose tris (3-chloro-4-methylphenylcarbamate). Under the optimized conditions, the enantiomer resolutions were 2.2 and 2.3 for 5F-AB-PINACA and 5F-AMB, respectively. Analysis of 10 herbal samples containing 5F-AB-PINACA and one herbal sample containing 5F-AMB showed that they all contained the (S)-enantiomer, but the (R)-enantiomer was only detected in two samples and at a ratio of less than 20%.