Beware of misattributing 'modafinil' in diphenhydramine-positive cases.

IF 2.8 4区医学 Q2 TOXICOLOGY

Forensic Toxicology Pub Date : 2025-03-31 DOI:10.1007/s11419-025-00716-5

Karolina Nowak, Marcin Zawadzki, Paweł Szpot

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose: Diphenhydramine is an antihistaminic agent available in numerous over-the-counter preparations, while modafinil is a wakefulness-promoting agent, available only by prescription, but also used recreationally, when purchased from the black market. Structurally, both substances belong to the class of so-called benzhydryl compounds, which can complicate their proper differentiation. The authors point out the possibility of misattributing modafinil in diphenhydramine-positive cases due to the likely coelution of nordiphenhydramine and modafinil.

Methods: Post-mortem blood and vitreous humor samples were subjected to liquid-liquid extraction using ethyl acetate in an alkaline environment (pH = 9), followed by a detailed toxicological analysis utilizing ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry.

Results: Through the application of full scan mode, multiple reaction monitoring (MRM), and product ion scan mode, the presence of modafinil was excluded in diphenhydramine-positive biological matrices (blood and vitreous humor).

Conclusions: In the analysis of benzhydryl compounds, particular caution should be exercised, with each case verified by comparison with a certified analytical standard, and, where possible, by detecting the metabolites of these compounds.

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小心在苯海拉明阳性病例中误将“莫达非尼”归为“莫达非尼”。

目的：苯海拉明是一种抗组胺剂，在许多非处方制剂中都有，而莫达非尼是一种促进清醒的药物，只能凭处方获得，但在黑市上购买时也用于娱乐。从结构上讲，这两种物质都属于所谓的苯羟基化合物，这可能使它们的正确区分复杂化。作者指出，在苯海拉明阳性病例中，由于诺苯海拉明和莫达非尼可能会混合在一起，因此可能会将莫达非尼误归为莫达非尼。方法：在碱性环境（pH = 9）下，采用乙酸乙酯液-液萃取法提取尸体血液和玻璃体标本，采用超高效液相色谱-三重四极杆串联质谱法进行详细的毒理学分析。结果：应用全扫描模式、多反应监测（MRM）和产物离子扫描模式，排除了苯海拉明阳性生物基质（血液和玻璃体）中莫达非尼的存在。结论：在苯并羟基化合物的分析中，应特别谨慎，与认证的分析标准进行比较，并在可能的情况下通过检测这些化合物的代谢物进行验证。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Forensic Toxicology TOXICOLOGY-

CiteScore

5.80

自引率

9.10%

发文量

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： The journal Forensic Toxicology provides an international forum for publication of studies on toxic substances, drugs of abuse, doping agents, chemical warfare agents, and their metabolisms and analyses, which are related to laws and ethics. It includes original articles, reviews, mini-reviews, short communications, and case reports. Although a major focus of the journal is on the development or improvement of analytical methods for the above-mentioned chemicals in human matrices, appropriate studies with animal experiments are also published. Forensic Toxicology is the official publication of the Japanese Association of Forensic Toxicology (JAFT) and is the continuation of the Japanese Journal of Forensic Toxicology (ISSN 0915-9606).