In vitro, in vivo and in silico metabolic profiling of -pyrrolidinopentiothiophenone, a novel thiophene stimulant

Background: Little or no pharmacological or toxicological data are available for novel psychoactive substances when they first emerge, making their identification and interpretation in biological matrices challenging. Materials & methods: A new synthetic cathinone, alpha-pyrrolidinopentiothiophenone (alpha-PVT), was incubated with hepatocytes and samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled to a Q Exactive(TM) Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Authentic urine specimens from suspected -PVT cases were also analyzed. Scans were data mined with Compound Discoverer for identification and structural elucidation of metabolites. Results/conclusion: Seven alpha-PVT metabolites were identified in hepatocyte incubations, and in the authentic urine samples, also with an additional monohydroxylated product and a glucuronide of low intensity. alpha-PVT dihydroxypyrrolidinyl, alpha-PVT 2-ketopyrrolidinyl, alpha-PVT hydroxythiophenyl and alpha-PVT thiophenol had the most intense in vivo signals.