Production waste from clandestine amphetamine production via the Leuckart route in soil-Part B: Characterization of an illicit dumpsite.

Synthetic drug production, especially that of amphetamine-type stimulants, is linked with considerable environmental concerns due to the frequent disposal of large amounts of toxic and corrosive production waste in the environment at so-called dumpsites. Various types of waste are generated during production, which often feature extremely low or high pH values and which contain numerous organic compounds from the synthesis process. In this work, soil samples from a real-case dumpsite detected in 2024 in Germany next to a clandestine laboratory were characterized by their pH values and organic residues via gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry approaches. Assessment of liquid samples taken at the surface and of soil cores (0-80 cm depth) allowed to conclude that production waste from clandestine amphetamine production via the Leuckart route was disposed on the site investigated. Characteristic synthesis markers like benzyl methyl ketone, N-formylamphetamine, 4-methyl-5-phenylpyrimidine, and N,N-di-(β-phenylisopropyl)amine or the persistent 1-benzyl-3-methylnaphthalene were detected in the soil samples over the whole core length of 80 cm. Additionally, degradation products of the Leuckart reaction educt benzyl methyl ketone were found. Furthermore, the designer pre-precursor benzyl methyl ketone methyl glycidate was identified as the designer pre-precursor compound employed at the nearby laboratory for amphetamine synthesis. In addition, a potential route-specific marker for the use of benzyl methyl ketone methyl glycidate was tentatively identified. Overall, it was possible to demonstrate that various kinds of forensically relevant data can be obtained from the in-depth characterization of a dumpsite, weeks or even months after the last disposal of amphetamine production waste.