Determination of cyclic butylboronate esters of some 1,2- and 2,3-diols in plasma by high-resolution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

A gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analytical procedure is described to determine glycols in plasma as cyclic butyl boronate esters. The method, involving a pre-deproteinization step, required only 0.25 ml of plasma and a short time (20 min) to react with the derivatizing agent (butyl boronic acid). The gas chromatographic separation on a CP Sil 8 CB silica capillary column coupled to a mass detector assured a complete identification of the compounds. The analytical recoveries (greater than 95%) with low coefficient of variation (4-11%) assured the feasibility of the method over a concentration range from 5 to 1000 micrograms ml-1 for each glycol. The lower detection limits, namely 1-5 micrograms ml-1, confirmed the sensitivity of the method.