The ADEBAR project: European and international provision of analytical data from structure elucidation and analytical characterization of NPS.

Novel substances for which none or limited analytical data are available constitute a challenge for police and customs forensic laboratories. The time-consuming process of structural elucidation and acquisition of analytical data has been centralized in the ADEBAR project in Germany, co-funded since 2017 by the EU's Internal Security Fund. The project aims to comprehensively characterize substances relevant for forensic-toxicological casework within the analytical competence network. The analytical datasets are distributed digitally through European and (inter)national channels. Additionally, pharmacological evaluation allows for estimating in vivo potency and potential harm required as scientific evidence for legislative amendments. The ADEBAR project contributes to the availability of analytical data on new substances relevant to the daily work of police and customs laboratories. Since the inception of the ADEBAR project, 549 samples have been registered, and 302 substance reports notified to the EMCDDA, including numerous spectrometric and spectroscopic data. In addition, 3,619 mass spectra have been accumulated in ADEBAR mass spectra databases. A central institution for the structure elucidation and acquisition of valid, high-quality analytical data for police and customs forensic laboratories and forensic medicine institutes is important in the future because there does not seem to be an end to the dynamic of novel NPS appearing on the drug market.

Two thiazolylindoles and a benzimidazole: novel compounds on the designer drug market with potential cannabinoid receptor activity.

In a seizure of German customauthorities two 3-([1,3]-thiazol-2-yl)indoles (N-(2-methoxyethyl),N-iso-propyl-2-(1-pentyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-4-thiazolemethanamine (1) and N,N-diethyl-2-(1-pentyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-4-thiazolemethanamine (2)) and one benzimidazole (1-(cyclohexylmethyl)-2-[(4-ethoxyphenyl)methyl]-N,N-diethyl-1H-benzimidazole-5-carboxamide (6)) were seized as pure compounds. The compounds have been detected in Germany for the first time, and no analytical data had been previously published. Mass spectrometric (MS), infrared (IR) spectroscopic, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic data are presented and the way of the structure elucidation of these rather uncommon compounds is discussed.

Structure elucidation of a new open chain isomer of the cannabimimetic cyclopropoylindole A-796,260.

A new hitherto unknown ring opened isomer of the tetramethylcyclopropoylindole 1-(2-morpholin-4-ylethyl)-1H-indol-3-yl]-(2,2,3,3-tetramethylcyclopropyl)methanone (A-796,260) has been identified in a seizure of the German Customs. It bears an E-alkene moiety in the side chain with a tert.-butyl group, having a 3-penten-5-one skeleton. The isomer is not identical to the known products of thermal ring opening of tetramethylcyclopropoylindoles, which have a 1-pentene-5-one alkyl chain, instead. We postulate its formation via a Wagner-Meerwein-rearrangement under acidic conditions during the attempted synthesis of the desired tetramethylcyclopropoylindole. Whether the compound, found in high purity, has been the result of a synthesis fault or has been synthesized intentionally and if the new isomer has cannabimimetic potential, is still unknown. During structure elucidation with NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, interesting phenomena have been detected concerning the product ion spectrometry of tetramethylcyclopropoylindoles.