Study of the metabolism of New Psychoactive Substances by liquid chromatography - hybrid quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

In the last years, the drug consumption pattern has changed due to the illicit drug law enforcement, being it more restrictive [1]. This issue has promoted the search for new drugs, but with similar effects to classic drugs. These synthetic compounds are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS). Other reason of the “success” of this kind of drugs is the easy access to them, for example in local shops (known as smartshops) or in different webpages. The term NPS became popular in the 80s because of appearing a drug based on the modification of an amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) [2]. Nowadays, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has informed in its 2017 Report more than 620 NPS [1,3]