Analysis of thiocyanate in biological fluids by capillary zone electrophoresis

A new sensitive and simple method has been developed for the determination of thiocyanate in human serum, urine and saliva. The determinations were performed in a fused silica capillary [64.5 cm (56 cm effective length)X75 mum] using 0.1 M beta -alanine-HCl (pH 3.50) as a background electrolyte, separation voltage Ls kV (negative polarity), temperature of capillary 25 degreesC and direct detection at 200 nm. Serum samples were 10-times diluted with deionised water and deproteinised with acetonitrile in the ratio 1:2. Urine and saliva samples need only 20-fold dilution with deionised water. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of thiocyanate in various human serum, saliva and urine samples. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.