Norfentanyl Explained

Norfentanyl is an inactive synthetic opioid analgesic drug precursor.^[1] It is an analog and metabolite of fentanyl with the removal of the phenethyl moiety (or functional group) from fentanyl chemical structure.^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]}

Occurrence and Applications

Norfentanyl occurs primarily as a metabolite of its parent drug, fentanyl. However, it can also be used to synthesize fentanyl itself.

See also

• 3-Methylbutyrfentanyl
• 4-Fluorobutyrfentanyl
• 4-Fluorofentanyl
• α-Methylfentanyl
• Acetylfentanyl
• Benzylfentanyl
• Furanylfentanyl
• Homofentanyl
• List of fentanyl analogues

Further reading

• Higashikawa Y, Suzuki S . Studies on 1-(2-phenethyl)-4-(N-propionylanilino)piperidine (fentanyl) and its related compounds. VI. Structure-analgesic activity relationship for fentanyl, methyl-substituted fentanyls and other analogues. Forensic Toxicology . June 2008 . 26 . 1 . 1–5 . 10.1007/s11419-007-0039-1 . 22092512.
• Alburges ME, Hanson GR, Gibb JW, Sakashita CO, Rollins DE . Fentanyl receptor assay. II. Utilization of a radioreceptor assay for the analysis of fentanyl analogs in urine . J Anal Toxicol . 16 . 1 . 36–41 . 1992 . 1322477 . 10.1093/jat/16.1.36.
• Woods J, Medzihradsky F, Smith C, Winger G, Gmerek D . Evaluation of new compounds for opioid activity: 1987 annual report . NIDA Res. Monogr. . 81 . 543–90 . 1988 . 3136388 .
• Aceto M, Bowman E, Harris L, May E . Dependence studies of new compounds in the rhesus monkey, rat, and mouse, 1987 . NIDA Res. Monogr. . 81 . 485–542 . 1988 . 3136386 .
• Brine GA, Boldt KG, Huang PT, Sawyer DK, Carroll FI . Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of fentanyl analogs . 2009 . 10.1002/jhet.5570260329 . Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry . 26 . 3 . 677–686 . free .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fentanyl . Elsevier.
2. Sofalvi . Szabolcs . An LC–MS-MS method for the analysis of carfentanil, 3-methylfentanyl, 2-furanyl fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, fentanyl and norfentanyl in postmortem and impaired-driving cases . Journal of Analytical Toxicology . 2017 . 41 . 6 . 473–483 . 10.1093/jat/bkx052 . 28830122 . free .
3. Bista . Sudeep R. . Development, validation and application of an HPLC–MS/MS method for the determination of fentanyl and nor-fentanyl in human plasma and saliva. . Journal of Chromatography . 2014 . B . 960 . 27-33.
4. Huynh . N-H. . etal . Determination of fentanyl in human plasma and fentanyl and norfentanyl in human urine using LC–MS/MS . Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis . 2005 . 37 . 5 . 1095–1100 . 10.1016/j.jpba.2004.09.024 . 15862690 .
5. Poklis . Alphonse . Urine concentrations of fentanyl and norfentanyl during application of Duragesic® transdermal patches . Journal of Analytical Toxicology . 2004 . 28 . 6 . 422–425 . 10.1093/jat/28.6.422 . 15516290 . free .
6. Coopman . Vera . LC–MS/MS analysis of fentanyl and norfentanyl in a fatality due to application of multiple Durogesic® transdermal therapeutic systems . Forensic Science International . 2007 . 169 . 2–3 . 223–227 . 10.1016/j.forsciint.2006.03.018 . 16650707 .
7. Peer . Cody J. . Direct-injection mass spectrometric method for the rapid identification of fentanyl and norfentanyl in postmortem urine of six drug-overdose cases . Journal of Analytical Toxicology . 2007 . 31 . 8 . 515–521 . 10.1093/jat/31.8.515 . 17988466 . free .
8. Vandergrift . Gregory W. . Paper spray mass spectrometry for the direct, semi-quantitative measurement of fentanyl and norfentanyl in complex matrices . Clinical Biochemistry . 2018 . 54 . 106–111 . 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2018.02.005 . 29432758 .
9. Patton . Amy L. . Quantitative measurement of acetyl fentanyl and acetyl norfentanyl in human urine by LC-MS/MS . Analytical Chemistry . 2014 . 86 . 3 . 1760–1766 . 10.1021/ac4036197 . 24354295 .