Improved Procedure for the Analysis of Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate and Ethylene Glycol in Whole Blood

• Published in: Journal of analytical toxicology Vol. 25; no. 5; pp. 328 - 332
• Main Authors: Pan, Y. Mary, Gill, Greta N., Tilson, Christopher S., Wall, William H., McCurdy, H. Horton
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Niles, IL Oxford University Press 01.07.2001; Preston
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Automobile Driving - legislation & jurisprudence; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases; Ethylene Glycol - blood; Ethylene Glycol - poisoning; Fatal Outcome; Female; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Reproducibility of Results; Sodium Oxybate - blood; Sodium Oxybate - poisoning; Substance Abuse Detection - legislation & jurisprudence; Substance Abuse Detection - methods; Toxicology; Various organic compounds; Human; Ethylene glycol; Biological fluid; Chemical analysis; Coupled method; Silylation; Postmortem; Forensic aspect; Derivatization; Autopsy material; Whole blood; Gas chromatography; Sample preparation; Hydroxyacid; Carboxylic acid; Simultaneous measurement; Poisoning; Mass spectrometry; Glycol; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0146-4760; 1945-2403
• DOI: 10.1093/jat/25.5.328

The modification of a procedure originally developed for the analysis of ethylene glycol (EG) in serum was also found to permit the simultaneous analysis of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in whole blood. The primary feature of the EG procedure was that it employed a water scavenger, 2,2-dimethoxypropane, which reacted with water to produce volatile methanol. Water scavenging is a technique that could be adapted for the analysis of drugs such as GHB as their respective di-t-butyldimethylsilyl derivatives. A close structural analogue of GHB, 2-hydroxy-3-methylbutyric acid, was successfully employed as the internal standard for both EG and GHB. The advantages of the modified procedure are that it is very quick and easy to perform and produces remarkably clean extracts for GHB, especially when compared to other liquid-liquid techniques. We have successfully applied this technique for the analysis of GHB and EG in several postmortem and driving-under-the-influence cases. There is an apparently wide variability between levels of GHB that can be associated with impairment versus those levels that can be associated with death.