Death after 25C-NBOMe and 25H-NBOMe consumption.
A teenager male was found dead in a waterway after he was spotted jumping off into the water stream. The boy looked agitated and confused after a party with friends. At the gathering place, investigators seized packages of blotter papers. A complete autopsy and a histological evaluation of the main tissues were performed although the death occurred by drowning, the prosecutor requested toxicological exams, in order to evaluate the potential role of drugs of abuse in the episode. Blood (both peripheral and central) and urine samples as well as seized blotter papers were collected and analyzed as follows. The blotter paper, analyzed through a GC-MS method, revealed the presence of 25-NBOMes. A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MSMS) system was used to identify and quantify 5 different 25-NBOMes (namely 25B-NBOMe, 25C-NBOMe, 25D-NBOMe, 25H-NBOMe, 25I-NBOMe) in blood and urine. 25E-NBOMe was used as internal standard (IS). 1mL of urine and 1mL of blood (both peripheral and cardiac) were diluted in 2mL phosphate buffer at pH 6.0, containing IS and purified on a solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. LOD and LOQ for the five 25-NBOMes were calculated at 0.05 and 0.1ngmL respectively. Linearity, accuracy, precision, ion suppression, carry over and recovery were tested and all parameters fulfilled the acceptance criteria. Blood and urine provided positive results for 25C-NBOMe and 25H-NBOMe. Eventually, the seized blotter papers were analyzed by means of LC-MSMS and the presence of the two NBOMes was confirmed 25C-NBOMe and 25H-NBOMe were measured at the concentration of 2.80 and 0.29ngmL in peripheral blood, of 1.43 and 0.13ngmL in central blood and of 0.94 and 0.14ngmL in urine, respectively. THC and THCCOOH were also detected in biological fluids, at the concentration of 15.5 and 56.0ngmL in peripheral blood, 9.9 and 8.5ngmL in central blood, respectively. NBOMes can produce severe hallucination even at very low doses, and the 25C-NBOMe levels measured in the subjects blood are considered potentially toxic.