Institute of Toxicology Research, 45 Kasztanowa Street, 55093, Borowa, Poland.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University, 4 J. Mikulicza-Radeckiego Street, 50345, Wroclaw, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 30;11(1):15568. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-95104-5.
Sodium azide is an old poison with toxicity comparable to potassium cyanide. It would seem to be completely forgotten however, between 2000 and 2020, the number of intentional ingestions and murders committed with sodium azide significantly increased. Furthermore, due to its extreme instability, sodium azide is difficult to detect, which poses an additional risk when used to commit a crime. In this study, the epidemiology of sodium azide exposures between 1920 and 2020 was investigated. For the determination the azide concentration in biological samples, a simple, precise and selective headspace gas chromatography method (HS-GC-FID/FID) was developed and fully validated. The limit of quantification was 0.65 µg/mL; and the limit of detection was 0.35 µg/mL; precision and accuracy did not exceed 20%. The stability study was conducted for various biological fluids (urine, bile, blood, gastric content) for 91 days in the refrigerator (4 °C) and the method for stabilization of azide was presented. The addition of a mixture of borax and sodium fluoride (w/w 3:1) to the test tubes can stabilize this poison. The described unique technique of collecting the biological samples poses a great potential for azide detection in clinical and toxicology laboratories even long time after human exposure to this substance.
叠氮化钠是一种毒性与氰化钾相当的古老毒药。然而，在 2000 年至 2020 年期间，人们有意摄入叠氮化钠和用其实施谋杀的事件显著增加，使得这种毒药似乎已被完全遗忘。此外，由于其极不稳定，叠氮化钠难以被检测到，这在用作犯罪手段时增加了额外的风险。在本研究中，调查了 1920 年至 2020 年间叠氮化钠暴露的流行病学情况。为了测定生物样本中的叠氮化物浓度，开发并全面验证了一种简单、精确和选择性的顶空气相色谱法（HS-GC-FID/FID）。定量限为 0.65µg/mL；检测限为 0.35µg/mL；精密度和准确度不超过 20%。对各种生物体液（尿液、胆汁、血液、胃内容物）进行了 91 天的冰箱（4°C）稳定性研究，并提出了稳定叠氮化物的方法。向试管中加入硼砂和氟化钠（w/w 3:1）的混合物可以稳定这种毒药。所描述的这种独特的生物样本采集技术即使在人类接触这种物质很长时间后，也为临床和毒理学实验室中的叠氮化物检测提供了很大的潜力。
