Method for Accurate Quantitation of Volatile Organic Compounds in Urine Using Point of Collection Internal Standard Addition

A method to achieve accurate measurement of unmetabolized volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urine was developed and characterized. The method incorporates a novel preanalytical approach of adding isotopically labeled internal standard (ISTD) analogues directly to the collection container at the point of collection to compensate for analyte loss to the headspace and the collection container surfaces. Using this approach, 45 toxic VOCs ranging in water solubility and boiling point were evaluated and analyzed by headspace solid-phase microextraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results show that urine VOCs could be equally lost to the container headspace as to the container surface suggesting similarity of these two regions as partition phases. Surface adsorption loss was found to trend with compound water solubility. In particular, with no headspace, more nonpolar VOCs experienced substantial losses (e.g., 48% for hexane) in a standard 120 mL urine cup at concentrations in the low- and sub-ppb range. The most polar VOCs evaluated (e.g., tetrahydrofuran) showed no significant loss. Other commonly practiced methods for urine sample collection and analysis such as aliquoting, specimen freezing, and use of surrogate ISTD were found to significantly bias results. With this method, we achieved errors ranging from -8.0 to 4.8% of spiked urine specimens. Paired urine and blood specimens from cigarette smokers were compared to assess this method.

Automated summary

A novel method was developed to accurately measure unmetabolized volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urine by adding isotopically labeled internal standard analogues directly to the collection container at the point of collection. It was found that VOCs in urine could be lost both to the container headspace and surface, with surface adsorption loss trending with compound water solubility. Other common urine sample collection and analysis methods were found to bias results, while this new method resulted in errors ranging from -8.0% to 4.8% of spiked urine specimens.