INITIAL REPORT ON A COMPREHENSIVE, QUANTITATIVE, SCREENING-PROCEDURE FOR VOLATILE COMPOUNDS OF FORENSIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL INTEREST IN HUMAN BIOFLUIDS BY GC-MS

This report deals with the establishment of a comprehensive screening procedure, employing a headspace concentration technique for sample preparation and gas chromatographymass spectrometry for detection and measurement of trapped volatile and gaseous components. An evaluation of the methodology revealed that up to thirty different gaseous and volatile toxic substances may be isolated from biospecimens and measured using this system at concentrations approaching the part per million level. Identification of a particular gas or volatile substance is accomplished by use of extracted ion profiles. Quantitation is achieved by use of the specific ion current measurement of the major component ion, modified by the corresponding ion current of a simultaneously run internal standard. Precision at either end of the chromatographic run is maintained by use of two internal standards (early versus late eluting). Data regarding extracted ion methodology, retention time estimates, and precision estimates for various commonly encountered volatile and gaseous substances are presented. © 1979 Oxford University Press.