Identification of 2C-B in Hair by UHPLC-HRMS/MS. A Real Forensic Case.

A reanalysis of hair from a former polydrug consumer, charged with a crime against public health in Spain, positively detected and identified 2C-B, a new psychoactive substance. Using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) with a universal and simpler pretreatment method, the technique enabled selective detection of 2C-B at very low concentrations. The approach demonstrates that advanced analytical methods can identify emerging hallucinogens like 2C-B in forensic hair samples, expanding possibilities for detecting substances of different chemical structures.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The analysis of drugs of abuse in hair and other biological matrices of forensic interest requires great selectivity and sensitivity. This has been traditionally achieved through target analysis, using one or more analytical methods that include different preanalytical stages, and more complex procedures followed by toxicological laboratories. There is no exception with 2C-series drugs, such as 2C-B, a new psychoactive substance (NPS), which use has emerged and significantly increased, year by year, in the last decades. Continuously new analytical methods are required to selectively detect and identify these new marketed substances at very low concentrations. In this case report, one former case of a polydrug consumer (charged of a crime against public health in Spain) was reanalyzed in hair matrix. In this reanalysis, 2C-B has been positively detected and identified using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS). The most selective analytical UHPLC-HRMS/MS method alongside a universal and simpler pretreatment methodology has opened up more possibilities for the detection of substances of different chemical structure and optimization of different HRMS/MS detection approaches allowing the identification of 2-CB in the hair of a real forensic case.