Extraction and gas chromatographic determination of residual formaldehyde in micro-surgical materials

Abstract

A method for the extraction of residual formaldehyde from surgical materials after sterilisation and its gas chromatographic determination as the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone derivative is described. Quantitative determinations are made using 9-cyanoanthracene as an internal standard, instead of anthracene, as reported previously, because this compound is more stable in solution. The sensitivity is of the order of 10 ng ml^–1 of extracted aldehyde. To measure the released formaldehyde under the conditions closest to those of the human body, because of the purpose of these samples, the formaldehyde was also extracted with a physiological solution (0.9% NaCl), at 37 °C, with and without stirring.