N-Nitroso(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine, a urinary metabolite of N,N-dinitrosopiperazine with potential utility as a monitor for its formation in vivo from piperazine.

Urinary metabolites in the rat of the carcinogen N,N-dinitrosopiperazine were identified as N-nitroso(2-hydroxyethyl)-glycine (22% of the dose), N-nitrosodiethanolamine (3%), 3-hydroxy-N-nitrosopyrrolidine (3%), and unchanged N,N-dinitrosopiperazine (18%). N-Nitroso(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine (1.6 mumol) was detected by gas chromatography-nitrosamine specific detection in the urine of rats treated by gavage with 19 mumol of piperazine and 191 mumol of sodium nitrite. Since sensitive methods are available to quantify N-nitroso(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine in rat urine and human urine, it has potential utility as a monitor for in vivo formation of N,N-dinitrosopiperazine.