Simultaneous determination of cyanide and thiocyanate in plasma by chemical ionization gas chromatography mass-spectrometry (CI-GC-MS)

An analytical method utilizing chemical ionization gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for the simultaneous determination of cyanide and thiocyanate in plasma. Sample preparation for this analysis required essentially one-step by combining the reaction of cyanide and thiocyanate with pentafluorobenzyl bromide and simultaneous extraction of the product into ethyl acetate facilitated by a phase-transfer catalyst, tetrabutylammonium sulfate. The limits of detection for cyanide and thiocyanate were 1 mu M and 50 nM, respectively. The linear dynamic range was from 10 mu M to 20 mM for cyanide and from 500 nM to 200 mu M for thiocyanate with correlation coefficients higher than 0.999 for both cyanide and thiocyanate. The precision, as measured by %RSD, was below 9 %, and the accuracy was within 15 % of the nominal concentration for all quality control standards analyzed. The gross recoveries of cyanide and thiocyanate from plasma were over 90 %. Using this method, the toxicokinetic behavior of cyanide and thiocyanate in swine plasma was assessed following cyanide exposure.