Development of a UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method to measure urinary metabolites of selected VOCs: Benzene, cyanide, furfural, furfuryl alcohol, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences Vol. 1126-1127; p. 121746
• Main Authors: Bhandari, Deepak, McCarthy, Declan, Biren, Chloe, Movassaghi, Cameron, Blount, Benjamin C., De Jesús, Víctor R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.09.2019
• Subjects: 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural; Benzene; Benzene - analysis; Benzene - metabolism; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Cyanide; Cyanides - metabolism; Cyanides - urine; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Furaldehyde - analogs & derivatives; Furaldehyde - metabolism; Furaldehyde - urine; Furfural; Furfuryl alcohol; Humans; Limit of Detection; Linear Models; N-Methylpyrrolidone; Reproducibility of Results; Smoking - metabolism; Smoking - urine; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization - methods; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; VOC metabolites; Volatile Organic Compounds - metabolism; Volatile Organic Compounds - urine; Cyanide; Furfural; Furfuryl alcohol; 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural; N-Methylpyrrolidone; Benzene; VOC metabolites
• ISSN: 1570-0232; 1873-376X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2019.121746

We report on the development of an ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for simultaneously measuring eight biomarkers of volatile organic compound (VOC) exposure, with potential application to e-cigarette aerosol biomonitoring. Phenylmercapturic acid (PMA) and trans, trans-muconic acid (tt-MA) are metabolites of benzene; 2-aminothiazoline-4-carboxylic acid (ATCA) is a metabolite of cyanide; N-2-furoylglycine (N2FG) is a metabolite of furfural and furfuryl alcohol; 5-hydroxymethylfuroic acid (HMFA), 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furoylglycine (HMFG), and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) are metabolites of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; and 5-hydroxy-N-methylpyrrolidone (5HMP) is a metabolite of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. A pentafluorophenyl-modified silica column was used for chromatographic separation. The overall run time for the method is about 6 min per sample injection. The method has low to sub-nanograms per milliliter sensitivity, linearity over 3 orders of magnitude, and precision and accuracy within 15%. The method was used to measure human urine samples. Results showed that people with known benzene exposure (daily cigarette smokers) had higher levels of tt-MA and PMA compared with non-smokers. The method is advantageous for high-throughput analysis of selected VOC metabolites in large-scale, population-based studies such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Quantifying these urinary biomarkers is important to public health efforts to understand human exposure to VOCs from various sources, including tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems. [Display omitted] •Benzene•Furfural•Furfuryl alcohol•Cyanide•LC-MS