J. Wallace, S. L. Ladd, K. Blum
1972
Citations
0
Influential Citations
7
Citations
Journal
Journal of forensic sciences
Abstract
Propoxyphene has received widespread utilization as an analgesic agent. Originally thought to be nontoxic, the compound in recent years has been reported as a contributing agent in numerous intoxications of which several have been lethal [1]. The compound is a tertiary amino ester, α-d-4-dimethylamino-l-2-diphenyl-3-methyl-2-butanol propionate. Of the four possible stereoisomers only the α-d form has an analgesic effect [2–4]. Since propoxyphene absorbs ultraviolet radiation in the manner characteristic of benzenoid compounds, methods which utilize ultraviolet spectra of unconverted propoxyphene have little application to the analysis of this compound in biological systems [5].