NCJ Number
183945
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 45 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2000 Pages: 702-707
Date Published
May 2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article compares two techniques for determining the level of toluene in the blood and urine of glue-sniffers.
Abstract
The gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) technique is an accurate and simple method to determine the level of toluene in urine and blood quantitatively. The technique is useful for analysis of toluene in biological fluid samples because toluene is a volatile compound that has a large gas/aqueous partition coefficient, and HS-SPME is simple, fast, sensitive and solvent-free. Also, it is possible to analyze toluene in blood or urine by using GC/MS with a non-polar capillary column without interference of moisture. An assembly of solid phase microextraction with a replaceable extraction fiber, coated with polydimethylsiloxane, was used. The detection limit of toluene in blood and urine with the HS-SPME technique was 10 times higher than with the headspace (HS) technique. The level of toluene detected by the two techniques was highly correlated: the correlation coefficients between the two sets of values were 0.98 and 0.96 in urine and blood, respectively. Figures, table, references