Direct Blood-Injection Method for Gas Chromatographic Determination of Alcohols and Other Volatile Compounds

Abstract

An extremely simple, rapid method is described for simultaneously determining methanol, ethanol, acetone, isopropanol, and low-boiling hydrocarbons associated with glue sniffing. Less than 1 µl of blood, mixed with an internal standard, is injected directly into a low-cost gas chromatograph equipped with a flame-ionization detector. No extraction, distillation, and (or) sample preparation is required, and the method is sensitive to less than 10 µg of alcohol per ml.