Citation

Gambaro V, Arnoldi S, Casagni E, Dell'acqua L, Pecoraro C, Froldi R. J. Forensic Sci. 2007; 52(6): 1401-1404.

Affiliation

Istituto di Chimica Farmaceutica e Tossicologica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Viale Abruzzi 42, 20131 Milano, Italy. veniero.gambaro@unimi.it

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2007.00570.x

PMID

18093070

Abstract

Blood samples of two cases were analyzed preliminarily by a classical spectrophotometric method (VIS) and by an automated headspace gas chromatographic method with nitrogen-phosphorus detector (HS-GC/NPD). In the former, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) was quantitatively determined by measuring the absorbance of chromophores forming as a result of interaction with chloramine T. In the automated HS-GC/NPD method, blood was placed in a headspace vial, internal standard (acetonitrile) and acetic acid were then added. This resulted in cyanide being liberated as HCN. The spectrophotometric (VIS) and HS-GC/NPD methods were validated on postmortem blood samples fortified with potassium cyanide in the ranges 0.5-10 and 0.05-5 mug/mL, respectively. Detection limits were 0.2 mug/mL for VIS and 0.05 mug/mL for HS-GC/NPD. This work shows that results obtained by means of the two procedures were insignificantly different and that they compared favorably. They are suitable for rapid diagnosis of cyanide in postmortem cases.

Language: en