Studies on the metabolism and toxicological detection of the designer drug 4-ethyl-2,5-dimethoxy-β-phenethylamine (2C-E) in rat urine using gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric techniques

The phenethylamine-derived designer drug 4-ethyl-2,5-dimethoxy-β-phenethylamine (2C-E) was found to be mainly metabolized in rats by O-demethylation, N-acetylation, hydroxylation of the ethyl side chain at C2′ or at C1′ followed by oxidation at C1′ to the corresponding ketone, by deamination followed by reduction to the corresponding alcohols or by oxidation to the corresponding acids, and finally combinations of these steps. Most of the metabolites were excreted in conjugated form. The authors’ systematic toxicological analysis (STA) procedure using full-scan GC–MS allowed the detection of an intake of a dose of 2C-E in rat urine that corresponds to a common drug users’ dose. Assuming similar metabolism, the described STA procedure should be suitable for proof of an intake of 2C-E in human urine.