Identification of the impurities in 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine tablets by high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry-ion trap-time of flight

Abstract

This paper illustrated the identification of relevant impurities in illegal drug 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine (2C-E) which can help to regulate this illegal drug and identify the source of their manufacture. Hybrid ion trap/time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (LC/MS-IT-TOF) is used as an efficient and effective method for qualitative analysis. In this study, the fragment pathway of 2C-E was deduced after the LC-MSⁿ determination of the 2C-E standard by LC/MS-IT-TOF. Ten impurities were detected in the 2C-E tablets using an optimized LC/MS-IT-TOF method. According to the exact mass data of MSⁿ and the analysis of the element composition, the structures of ten impurities were identified. The synthetic route of the 2C-E tablets was proposed by analysis of these impurities. The established method is not only effective in identifying impurities, but also helps to identify the manufacturing source of this illegal drug.