title: Headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric screening for volatile hydrocarbons in blood.
abstract: Optimization for headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was studied with a view to performing gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) screening of volatile hydrocarbons (VHCs) in blood. Twenty hydrocarbons comprising aliphatic hydrocarbons ranging from n-hexane to n-tridecane, and aromatic hydrocarbons ranging from benzene to trimethylbenzenes were used in this study. This method can be used for examining a burned body to ascertain whether the victim had been alive or not when the burning incident took place. n-Hexane, n-heptane and benzene, the main indicators of gasoline components, were found as detectable peaks through the use of cryogenic oven trapping upon SPME injection into a GC-MS instrument. The optimal screening procedure was performed as follows. The analytes in the headspace of 0.2 g of blood mixed with 0.8 ml of water plus 0.2 microg of toluene-d8 at -5 degrees C were adsorbed to a 100-microm polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fiber for 30 min, and measured using the full-mass-scanning GC-MS method. The lower detection limits of all the compounds were 0.01 microg per 1 g of blood. Linearities (r2) within the range 0.01 to 4 microg per 1 g of blood were only obtained for the aromatic hydrocarbons at between 0.9638 (pseudocumene) and 0.9994 (toluene), but not for aliphatic hydrocarbons at between 0.9392 (n-tridecane) and 0.9935 (n-hexane). The coefficients of variation at 0.2 microg/g were less than 8.6% (n-undecane). In conclusion, this method is feasible for the screening of volatile hydrocarbons from blood in forensic medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kashimura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kashiwagi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hamanaka
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyoshi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kageura
mesh_terms: D002056:Burns / Q000097:blood; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons