title: Gas chromatographic determination of urinary o-cresol for the monitoring of toluene exposure.
abstract: A sensitive and reproducible gas chromatographic procedure for the quantitative determination of urinary o-cresol is described. The first step involves acid hydrolysis (2N HCl, 100 degrees C, 10 min), which yields unconjugated o-cresol. After extraction (methylene chloride, pH 2), the organic layer is concentrated by evaporation and samples are analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection with a DB-5 column (30 m x 0.25 mm, 0.25 microns). Initial oven temperature is set at 30 degrees C for 12 min and the increased 2 degrees C/min to 93 decrees C. 3,4-Dimethylphenol is used as the internal standard. The detection limit of the method is 0.36 mumol/L (1 microL injection). Additional validation data were obtained by analysis of urine samples collected from volunteers exposed to various concentrations of toluene: 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 ppm over 7 h. Urinary o-cresol concentrations (0-3, 3-7, 7-24, and 0-24 h) were highly correlated with toluene exposure.
authors.affiliation: Institut de recherche en santé et en sécurité du travail du Québec, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Truchon
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tardif
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brodeur
mesh_terms: D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods*; D003408:Cresols / Q000032:analysis* / Q000652:urine; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014050:Toluene / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D003408:Cresols; D014050:Toluene; C034047:2-cresol