Quantitation of organophosphorus nerve agent metabolites in human urine using isotope dilution gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

An isotope dilution gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (GC-MS-MS) method was developed for quantitating the urinary metabolites of the organophosphorus nerve agents sarin, soman, tabun (GA), VX, and GF. Urine samples were concentrated by codistillation with acetonitrile, derivatized by methylation with diazomethane, and analyzed by GC-MS-MS. The limits of detection were less than 4 μg/L for all the analytes except for the GA metabolite, which had a limit of detection of less than 20 μg/L.