Volatile carboxylic acid profiling in physiological fluids: direct injection into a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer.

We present a procedure for the profiling of the volatile carboxylic acids and neutral compounds in blood or urine using the direct injection of the acidified sample into a gas chromatograph interfaced with a mass spectrometer by a jet separator. The non-volatile components remain at the head of the SP-1000 column while the volatile components move through the column. Up to sixty physiological samples can be analyzed before any degradation in mass spectrometer operating parameters is observed.