The pre‐precursor market and the clandestine production of amphetamine‐type stimulants (ATS) has become more diverse in recent years. Besides α‐phenylacetoacetonitrile (APAAN) and α‐phenylacetoacetamide (APAA), glycidic acid derivatives and methyl α‐phenylacetoacetate (MAPA) are gaining importance. This conclusion is based on seizure data of police and customs. However, analytical data are needed to confirm and quantify the actual prevalence of new pre‐precursors by elucidating the percentage of seized ATS that have been produced from them. A recent study showed that APAAN use is currently declining, which supports the view that new pre‐precursors are being used. In this study, several conversion procedures using different batches of glycidic acid derivatives and a complete Leuckart reaction to produce amphetamine were carried out. The resulting organic phases were analyzed using gas chromatography − mass spectrometry to identify possible marker compounds. Three marker compounds were discovered and characterized using mass spectra and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. They were identified as phenyl‐1‐propanone, N‐(1‐phenylpropyl)formamide and 1‐phenylpropan‐1‐amine. Their prevalence was investigated by searching the markers in an amphetamine impurity profiling database to determine to what extent they occurred in amphetamine samples from recent years. Data from the central German amphetamine profiling database of more than 250 cases were used for this purpose. The yearly occurrence of the three glycidate marker compounds was determined going back as far as 2009, revealing an increasing trend from 2016 on. This article presents experimental proof that APAAN is currently being replaced by other pre‐precursors, such as glycidic acid derivatives.

中文翻译：

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从缩水甘油酸前体合成的苯丙胺的特定标记物的鉴定，并在德国分析数据库中进行回顾性搜索。

近年来，前体市场和苯丙胺类兴奋剂（ATS）的秘密生产变得更加多样化。除了α-苯基乙酰乙腈（APAAN）和α-苯基乙酰乙酰胺（APAA）外，缩水甘油酸衍生物和α-苯基乙酰乙酸甲酯（MAPA）也变得越来越重要。该结论基于警察和海关的缉获数据。但是，需要通过分析数据来确定和量化新前体的实际流行度，方法是阐明从它们中检出的缉获的苯丙胺类兴奋剂的百分比。最近的一项研究表明，APAAN的使用目前正在下降，这支持了使用新的前体的观点。在这项研究中，使用不同批次的缩水甘油酸衍生物和完整的Leuckart反应进行了几次转化生产苯丙胺。使用气相色谱-质谱法分析所得的有机相，以鉴定可能的标记化合物。发现了三种标记化合物，并使用质谱和核磁共振波谱进行了表征。它们被鉴定为苯基-1-丙酮，N-（1-苯基丙基）甲酰胺和1-苯基丙烷-1-胺。通过在苯丙胺杂质分析数据库中搜索这些标记，以确定它们在近几年苯丙胺样品中出现的程度，从而调查了它们的患病率。为此目的，使用了来自德国中央苯丙胺分析数据库的250多个案例的数据。确定了三种缩水甘油酸标志物化合物的年出现时间可追溯到2009年，从2016年开始呈上升趋势。