The Abuse of 3,4- Methylenedioxypyrrolidinobutyrophenone(MDPBP). A Case Report

The Abuse of 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrrolidinobutyrophenone (MDPBP): A Case Report

The abuse of new designer drugs available on the black marketis increasing worldwide. Their use has, in some cases, led to fatal overdoses in addition to other adverse social and health effects, yet revealing the cause of the potential intoxication has so far proven difficult on account of the absence of appropriate analytical data for the drug in question as well as the lack ofspecific knowledge of how it is metabolized. The case outlined here concerns abuse of an unspecified drug nicknamed “Funky”.Simultaneous general GC-MS screening and ultra-high resolution accurate mass liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry toxicological analysis of the subject’s urine confirmed the presence of 3,4 methylenedioxypyrrolidinobutyrophenone, one of the new synthetic cathinones. The parent drug in the urine sample was accompanied by a dominant metabolite, which was most likely one of the two possible stereoisomers produced by demethylenation and subsequent O-methylation of the hydroxy group. This was the first confirmation of MDPBP abuse in the Czech Republic supported by the toxicological identification of MDPBP and its dominant metabolite in human urine.