Planta Med 2013; 79 - CL22
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1348547

Quality Control of Natural Product Legal High Materials in the UK Using NMR Based Metabolomic Profiling

W Arunotayanun 1, M Zloh 2, S Gibbons 1
  • 1Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29 – 39 Brunswick square, London, WC1N 1AX, UK
  • 2Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Department of Pharmacy, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK

Over the past decade, the availability of legal high products (novel psychoactive substances, NPS) has been increasing dramatically worldwide.1 Natural products are amongst the most commonly offered by online vendors.1 Without any regulation, these materials are often of dubious identity or are adulterated with other psychoactive plants or compounds, which could cause serious harm to recreational drug users. In this study, a metabolomic approach combined with multivariate data analysis was applied to examine all the metabolites present in four top natural product legal highs (Kratom, Cacti, Fly Agaric, and Hawaiian Baby woodrose) from various UK websites. 1H NMR spectroscopy was selected as a tool for sample analysis due to its advantages over other methods.2 Sample preparation, data bucketing and data analysis of each product were developed and are presented here, which could be adopted as a rapid and efficient analytical method to produce a valuable database for mass quality control of these materials and for identification of adulterants.

Reference: [1] EMCDDA, Annual report 2012, 2012, 89 – 91.

[2] F. Van der Kooy, F. Maltese, Y. Hae Choi, H. Kyong Kim and R. Verpoorte, Planta Med, 2009, 75, 763 – 775.