Specific determination of cyanide in blood by headspace gas chromatography.

An improved method has been developed for the quantitative determination of cyanide in human blood by headspace gas chromatography with electron-capture detection. In this novel method, cyanide was detected after conversion of hydrogen cyanide into cyanogen chloride by a reaction with chloramine T. The advantage of this new procedure lies in the fact that hydrogen cyanide formation and chlorination are carried out in a single step and in the same reaction medium. This method is simple, rapid, and specific for cyanide and does not suffer from any interference by cyanate and thiocyanate. The detection limit is 5 micrograms/L. The detection response is linear from 5 to 1000 micrograms/L, and the within-run coefficient of variation in this range is 8% or less. This method is particularly useful for routine diagnostic analysis of biological samples in case of acute cyanide poisoning.