Identification and quantification of the doping agent GHRP-2 in seized unlabelled vials by NMR and MS: a case-report

摘要

The European Official Medicines Control Laboratories are often involved in the analysis of seized illegal medicines, dietary supplements, 'natural products' and unlabelled products containing undeclared pharmaceutical substances, forbidden and even new, still unknown, ingredients mostly resulting in doping agents, narcotics, and sexual enhancers arriving on the European market from all over the world. Besides identification, quantification of the active substances in a seized material adds valuable information to establish the risk for the consumer and the penalty for producers and suppliers of the illegal products. In quantitative analyses by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR), the chemical structure of the reference standards can be independent from that of the an-alyte as the NMR peak area is proportional to the number of nu-clei. So qNMR is mostly suitable in the evolving and uncontrolled market of illegal products, where a specific reference standard for quantification is often unavailable . This case report describes the results of an investigation into powders contained in unlabelled vials seized by the Italian Customs. The importers of the vials declared that the samples contained creatine, a dietary supplement used to increase high-intensity athletic performance, and lauric acid, a natural saturated fatty acid claimed to reduce total cholesterol and enhancing HDL levels.