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                            Library & Multimedia
 Phenethyl-4-ANPP: A Marginally Active Byproduct Suggesting a Switch in Illicit Fentanyl Synthesis Routes
NCJ Number
              304333
Journal

*Journal of Analytical Toxicology*
Date Published

March 2022
Annotation
              This report focuses on phenethyl-4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (phenethyl-4-ANPP), a formerly unknown compound that was identified for the first time in a fentanyl powder sample seized in April 2019, followed by its identification in a biological sample in December 2019.
Abstract
              Profiling of the illicit fentanyl supply is invaluable from surveillance and intelligence perspectives. An important strategy includes the study of chemical attribution signatures (e.g., trace amounts of synthesis precursors, impurities/byproducts in seized material and metabolites in biological samples). This information provides valuable insight into the employed synthesis routes at the heart of illicit fentanyl manufacture (previously mainly the so-called Janssen or Siegfried methods), allowing to track and ultimately regulate crucial precursors. Between 2019-Q4 and 2020-Q3, phenethyl-4-ANPP was detected in 25/1,054 fentanyl cases in the USA. There are currently no reports on how this compound may have ended up in illicit drug preparations and whether its presence may have potential in vivo relevance. The current project proposes three possible fentanyl synthesis routes that, when badly executed in a single reaction vessel, may involve the formation of phenethyl-4-ANPP. The authors hypothesize that the presence of the latter is the result of a shift in fentanyl synthesis routes in an attempt to circumvent restrictions on previously used precursors. Using a cell-based μ-opioid receptor recruitment assay, this study found that the extent of MOR activation caused by 100 μM phenethyl-4-ANPP is comparable to that exerted by a roughly 100,000-fold lower concentration of fentanyl (0.001 μM or 0.336 ng/mL). Negligible in vitro opioid activity, combined with its low abundance in fentanyl preparations, most likely renders phenethyl-4-ANPP biologically irrelevant in vivo; however, as clandestine operations are constantly changing shape, monitoring of fentanyl attributions remains pivotal in the understanding and control of illicit fentanyl manufacture and supply. (Publisher Abstract)
      
  
          Additional Details
Grant Number(s)
        2017-R2-CX-0002


  
  
        
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        NIJ-Sponsored


  
  
        
  Publication Type
        Research (Applied/Empirical)


  
  
        
  Award
        A More Timely Process for Identifying and Analyzing Trends of Emerging Novel Psychoactive Substances in the United States
    
  
  
Date Published: March 10, 2022
    
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