Analysis and characterization of the novel psychoactive drug 4-chloromethcathinone (clephedrone)

The goal of this study was to confirm identity of this substance, which was done successfully by GC-MS and NMR. Since all cathinone derivatives are chiral, it was found out, whether the purchased sample was present as a racemic mixture. For this purpose, methods for enantioseparation by GC and CE were developed and applied successfully. In case of CE a chiral selector was added, whereas chiral separation with GC-MS was done indirectly, after derivatization of clephedrone with trifluoroacetyl-l-prolyl chloride.