Investigations into the stable isotope ratios of 1-phenyl-2-propanone.

Stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) can be used to determine the precursor and precursor origin of methylamphetamine drug samples. Previous work has shown that methylamphetamine samples can be distinguished as derived from different sources of (pseudo)ephedrine or phenyl-2-propanone (P2P) through the use of IRMS alongside conventional chemical profiling techniques. To date, limited research has been conducted to investigate whether methylamphetamine samples of differing P2P origins can be distinguished through drug profiling. This was investigated by synthesising methylamphetamine in-house in a three-step process. Two 'preprecursors' were used in this study, phenylacetic acid (PAA) and α-phenylacetoacetonitrile (α-PAAN). Using a combination of profiling techniques, it was found that methylamphetamine samples of PAA preprecursor origin and methylamphetamine samples of α-PAAN preprecursor origin can be distinguished.