Metabolism of toluene in man: gas-chromatographic determination of o-, m- and p-cresol in urine.

Complete separation of phenol, o-, m- and p-cresol was achieved by capillary gas-chromatography. Urinary concentrations of cresols were determined quantitatively in samples from 10 male workers exposed to toluene. Besides p-cresol, o- and m-cresol were found to be urinary compounds in the case of the exposed group in contrast to normal persons. This finding was proved by gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry. The difference between both groups is significant. It is concluded that beside hippuric acid o-, m- and p-cresol are metabolites of toluene.