Determination of trichloroacetate in human serum and urine by ion chromatography

Abstract

A simple and rapid ion chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of trichloroacetate in human serum and urine. Two short (50 × 5 mm i.d.) low-capacity anion-exchange resin columns in series were used as the analytical column and a mixture of 35 mM sodium hydroxide, 20 mMp-hydroxybenzonitrile and 2%V/V acetonitrile (pH 12.3) as the eluent. The calibration graph was rectilinear from 0.3 to 33 mg l^–1 of trichloroacetate at 10 µS with a detection limit (3σ) of 0.08 mg l^–1. The recovery of trichloroacetate, obtained by analysing spiked serum and urine samples, was in the range 98.2–101% and the coefficient of variation was always less than 3.0%.