Microgram: The Forensic Science Laboratory of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters (Japan) recently received 11 mottled, brownish-pink tablets with an 'S' logo, suspected Ecstasy (see Photo 2). The exhibits were seized by the Osaka Prefectural Police from two users in Osaka city. The tablets were 6.2 millimeters in diameter, 4.5 millimeters thick, and averaged 130 milligrams each. Analysis by color testing, TLC, and GC/MS, however, indicated no controlled substances. Additional analyses by GC/CI MS, LC/MS/MS and NMR analyses indicated N-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)phthalimide (approximately 15 milligrams/tablet) along with lesser amounts of one of its probable precursors, 2,4,6-trimethylaniline. Very little information is available concerning this compound; based on its structure, it may have a sedative effect (and the users so claimed). An internet search on N-phenyl-phthalimides indicates derivatives with herbicidal, anticancer, and other, rather obscure pharmaceutical activities - but no derivatives with any known abuse potential. To our knowledge, this is the first report of N-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)phthalimide in any clandestine sample. Since this submission, more than 300 tablets of the same kind have reportedly been seized in Osaka, Tokyo, Iwate, Kagawa, and several other Prefectures in Japan.
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