Oritani S., Fujita M.Q., Quan L., Ishida K., Zhu B., Maeda H.

Department of Legal Medicine Osaka City University Medical School, Asahi-machi 1-4-54, Abeno, 545 Osaka, Japan

We investigated the application of head-space gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (HS-GC/MS) to automated simultaneous screening and quantitation of cyanide with the other volatile substances in biological fluids.
Materials and Methods. The analytical system consisted of incubation of samples with phosphoric acid (acidifying reagent) in glass vials and sampling of the head space gas using an automatic sampler, identification and quantitation by a capillary GC/MS.
Experimental blood samples were prepared by addition of cyanide and/or the other volatile substances (ethanol, acetone, acetaldehyde and toluene) at varying concentrations. Autopsy materials (body fluids) were also examined.
Results and Discussion. On this system, cyanide in the blood was sensitively and accurately determined also on a condition of increased carboxy- and methemoglobin. There was virtually no interference in the analysis of ethanol, acetone, acetaldehyde and toluene. The practical application to autopsy materials provided toxicological data useful for diagnosis of the cause of death especially in fire victims, which included elevated blood cyanide levels up to 3,5 µg/mL and detection of the other volatile substances, e.g., ethanol, acetaldehyde, acetone and toluene.
Conclusions. HS-GC/MS was successfully applied to the automated screening of cyanide together with the other volatile substances. The method provided useful toxicological data in forensic casework.