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Determination of Formaldehyde in Urine by Headspace Gas Chromatography

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Abstract

Formaldehyde is a carcinogen to which humans are exposed daily, but few methods are available to quantify formaldehyde in biological samples. We developed a simple, sensitive and rapid technique for the quantification of formaldehyde in urine by derivatization with O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine, using a headspace sampler coupled to a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector. The detection limit was 1.08 µg/L. The overall recovery of formaldehyde spiked in urine was 99%. The concentration of formaldehyde in urine obtained from healthy volunteers ranged from 56.85 to 144.57 µg/L. This method can be used successfully to measure formaldehyde in urine.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Shohei Kira and Dr. Hiroyuki Kataoka for their support. This study was supported by Health Science Research Grant for Research on Environmental Health from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.

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Correspondence to Tomoko Takigawa.

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Takeuchi, A., Takigawa, T., Abe, M. et al. Determination of Formaldehyde in Urine by Headspace Gas Chromatography. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 79, 1–4 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-007-9172-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-007-9172-0

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