A fatal poisoning involving Bromo-Dragonfly

Abstract

This paper reports a fatal overdose case involving the potent hallucinogenic drug Bromo-Dragonfly (1-(8-bromobenzo[1,2-b; 4,5-b']difuran-4-yl)-2-aminopropane). In the present case, an 18-year-old woman was found dead after ingestion of a hallucinogenic liquid. A medico-legal autopsy was performed on the deceased, during which liver, blood, urine and vitreous humour were submitted for toxicological examination. Bromo-Dragonfly was identified in the liver blood using UPLC-TOFMS, and was subsequently quantified in femoral blood (0.0047 mg/kg), urine (0.033 mg/kg) and vitreous humour (0.0005 mg/kg) using LC-MS/MS. Calibration standards were prepared from Bromo-Dragonfly isolated from a bottle found next to the deceased. The structure and purity of the isolated compound were unambiguously determined from analysis of UPLC-TOFMS, GC-MS, HPLC-DAD, (1)H and (13)C NMR data and by comparison to literature data. The autopsy findings were non-specific for acute poisoning. However, based on the toxicological findings, the cause of death was determined to be a fatal overdose of Bromo-Dragonfly, as no ethanol and no therapeutics or other drugs of abuse besides Bromo-Dragonfly were detected in the liver, blood or urine samples from the deceased. To our knowledge, this is the first report of quantification of Bromo-Dragonfly in a biological specimen from a deceased person. This case caused the drug to be classified as an illegal drug in Denmark on 5th December 2007.