[Analysis of thinner components using the Curie-point pyrolyzer-gas chromatographic method in the tissues of a victim fatally poisoned].
A 43-year-old male was found dead in the trunk of his car which was filled with thinner vapor. Thinner components in the tissues were analyzed using a gas chromatograph equipped with Curie-point pyrolyzer (Py-GC), and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The Py-GC method was able to analyze with very small materials. It was simple and quick but not as sensitive as the head-space gas chromatographic method. Toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes were detected in the tissues, and their presence was confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The concentrations of toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes in blood and the brain were 56.8, 6.8 and 4.5 micrograms/ml; and 203, 43.5 and 33.9 micrograms/g, respectively. The cause of death was thus judged as be thinner poisoning.
Iwasaki
Y
Y
Department of Legal Medicine, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, Japan.
Miyazaki
T
T
Yashiki
M
M
Kojima
T
T
D000328:Adult; D001555:Benzene Derivatives / Q000032:analysis* / Q000506:poisoning*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014050:Toluene / Q000032:analysis* / Q000506:poisoning*; D014992:Xylenes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000506:poisoning*
D001555:Benzene Derivatives; D014992:Xylenes; D014050:Toluene; C004912:ethylbenzene