title: Simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method to verify the direct barbituric acid assay for urinary cotinine.
abstract: An isocratic HPLC method is described to determine urinary concentrations of nicotine and cotinine after derivatization with cyanogen chloride and barbituric acid. This method has been used to assess the reliability of the direct barbituric acid assay to determine smoking status. It is concluded that the direct barbituric acid assay is a very reliable indicator of smoking status, provided that urine blank samples are prepared to correct for background absorbance. If the direct barbituric acid assay is in disagreement with self-reported smoking status, this HPLC procedure is a useful method to resolve the discrepancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Ubbink
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lagendijk
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Vermaak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001463:Barbiturates; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D003367:Cotinine / Q000652:urine*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000652:urine; D012907:Smoking / Q000652:urine; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
chemical_list: D001463:Barbiturates; D009538:Nicotine; D003367:Cotinine; C032232:barbituric acid