OBJECTIVETo establish a method for determining the content of 2,4-toluenediamine, a urinary metabolite of toluene diisocyanate, by gas chromatography.

METHODSUrine samples were collected, and acidification, extraction, derivatization, separation with a capillary column, and detection with an electron capture detector were performed. The target compound was qualified by retention time and quantified by peak area.

RESULTSThe concentration of 2, 4-toluenediamine showed a linear relationship with peak area within 0.0∼40 ng/ml, with a correlation coefficient 0.9995; the limit of detection was 0.44 ng/ml, the lower limit of quantification was 1.47 ng/ml, the relative standard deviation was 1.85%∼4.05%; the recovery rate was 97.98%∼99.28%.

CONCLUSIONThe method has the advantages of high sensitivity and high accuracy and can be used for determination of 2, 4-toluenediamine in urine.