Rapid and sensitive static headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the analysis of ethanol and abused inhalants in blood

A sensitive and specific method using static headspace gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has been developed for the quantitative determination of ethanol in biological fluids using n-propanol as internal standard. Gas chromatography was performed in isothermal mode with a GC run time of 2.6min. The quantification was performed using scan mode abstracting a quantitative ion and a qualifier ion for ethanol and for the internal standard. The method was linear (r2, 0.999, in the concentration range of 5-200mg/dl), specific (no interference from methanol acetaldehyde, acetone or from endogenous materials), sensitive (limit of quantification and limit of detection of 0.2 and 0.02mg/dl, respectively) and robust (less than 5% inter- and intra-assay coefficient of variation). A slightly modified method was also developed for the quantification of five commonly abused inhalants (dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, benzene, toluene and xylene) in blood. The method used a gradient GC program with a run time of 8min. The quantification was performed using scan mode and integrating the area under the peak using trichloroethane as an internal standard. Without optimization, the method was linear (from 5 to 100mg/l) and sensitive. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.