Research Progress on Psychoactive Components and Their Extraction Detection in Khat
Khat is a common drug plant,mostly growing in the Eastern Africa and Arabian Peninsula,at an altitude of 1 500 to 2 500 m,and often appears at the customs in smuggling cases.Its main psychoactive components are cathinone and normethyl pseudoephedrine.In the Catalogue of Psychoactive Drugs(2013 edition)jointly issued by multiple departments,Khat and its main pharmacological ingredient,cathinone,are listed as Category Ⅰ psychotropic drugs for control,while another toxicological component,norpseudoephedrine,is listed as a Category Ⅱ psychotropic drug for control.The judicial identification of Khat is an important step in smuggling cases.The inspection of fresh Khat can be carried out from three aspects:form examination,DNA examination,as well as physics and chemistry examination.However,at present,many smuggled plants are crushed to powder and cannot be identified morphologically,and the degradation of DNA after drying makes DNA testing difficult.Cathinone and norpseudoephedrine contents are important indicators in the physicochemical detection of Khat.Owing to the instability of cathinone,it is partially degraded during the transportation and drying processes after picking,which also increases the difficulty of criminal physical and chemical examination.Because of the peculiarity of the experimental materials,the chemical composition,metabolic pathways,and detection methods are insufficient in China.According to foreign research,the alkanine alkaloids content of Khat varies in different regions,varieties,and parts of the plant,and the main metabolic route of psychoactive components in plants and human body is confirmed.The Khat drying experiment showed that cathinone in Khat can be detected via GC,GC-MS,GC-IR,HPLC,HPLC-MS/MS,and IC-HPLC after drying.By summarizing the domestic and foreign researches on psychoactive components in Khat,this study has the following inferences.First,the decomposition of cathinone in Khat obtained in the case occurs more in the transportation stage of fresh grass than in the dry stage.Second,cathinone in dry grass exists in the stable in the form as salt.Third,other substances may directly or indirectly enhance the psychoactive effects of Khat.Based on the above findings,this study can provide a reference for criminal physical and chemical examinations of khat and guide further research.
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