Determination of chlorobutanol in mouse serum, urine and embryos by capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detection.

A sensitive and specific method for the determination of chlorobutanol (1,1,1-trichloro-2-methyl-2-propanol) in mouse serum, urine, and embryos by capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detection is described. For sample preparation n-hexane was used to extract chlorobutanol and the internal standard 2,2,2-trichloroethanol (TCE) from each matrix. Following extraction chromatographic separation of the samples was achieved with a fused-silica capillary column (30 m x 0.25 mm I.D., 0.25 micron film thickness). The method as described has the required sensitivity to quantitate chlorobutanol in individual embryos following administration of a single oral dose of the drug to a pregnant mouse. The limit of detection was 1 pg on column and the detector response was linear from 1 to 100 micrograms/ml for serum, 0.2 to 20 micrograms/ml for urine, and 1 to 10 ng/embryo.