Determination of thiocyanate in tissues and body fluids of animals by gas chromatography with electron-capture detection.

A method for the quantitative extraction of thiocyanate from biological material has been developed. Levels of 0.2-5 ppm of thiocyanate, in the presence of cyanide, were determined by gas-solid chromatography using 2-bromopropane as internal standard. Reliable results can be obtained only after careful deproteinization of the extracts with hot methanol. Cyanide can be eliminated by reaction with alkaline formaldehyde. The reproducibility of the determination of thiocyanate in biological extracts was +/-5%; the recoveries were over 90%. In vivo experiments with KS14CN-treated rats gave good agreement between the analytical results and the amount of thiocyanate determined by isotope dilution.