Identification and Characterization of the Designer Opioid N-Pyrrolidino Fluetonitazene in Nasal Spray

Detection of drugs in non-biological samples serves as a fundamental basis for identifying emerging trends in the field of new psychoactive substances and provides valuable information for optimizing analytical methods within the field of chemical analysis. Nitazenes belong to this group of compounds and have been reported to cause poisonings. N-pyrrolidino fluetonitazene, also known as fluetonitazepyne (2-(4-(2-fluoroethoxy)benzyl)-5-nitro-1-(2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)ethyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole), is another emerging synthetic opioid that may contribute to the challenges faced globally. This article describes the identification and characterization of N-pyrrolidino fluetonitazene in a rarely reported medium for opioids: nasal spray. The sample investigated here was collected from a patient treated at the University Medicine Halle following first-time recreational use of a nasal spray and was submitted in an amber plastic bottle containing a small volume of a yellowish viscous liquid. The analytical techniques used for identifying this compound included gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.