DETERMINATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSED CHLOROPHENOL LEVELS IN URINE OF THE GENERAL-POPULATION

A sensitive, specific and analytically reliable method for the determination of mono-, di-, tri- and tetrachlorophenols in human urine has been elaborated. After acid hydrolysis and a simultaneous steam distillation of the urine samples, spiked with an internal standard, the chromatographically concentrated chlorophenols have been derivatized with pentafluorobenzoylchloride and analyzed by capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The detection limits for the chlorophenols ranged from 0.2 to 2.5-mu-g/l. Using this method we were able to detect 4-MCP, 2,4- + 2,5-DCP, 2,4,6-TCP, 2,4,5-TCP and 2,3,4,6- + 2,3,5,6-TeCP in urine samples of a group of 258 men and women which had no known occupational contact to hazardous chemical substances. The 95 percentiles for the concentrations of these substances in the urine samples under investigation were 7.5 (4-MCP); 33.6 (2,4- + 2,5-DCP); 4,7 (2,4,6-TCP); 4,5 (2,4,5-TCP) and 22.2 (2,3,4,6- + 2,3,5,6-TeCP) mu-g per liter. That means, that these chlorophenols are constituents of urine of the normal population in concentrations which i part are greater than that of pentachlorophenol (PCP).