Irena Brčić Karačonji,* Ljiljana Skender, Višnja Karačić
Clinical Toxicological Chemistry Unit, Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Ksaverska c. 2,Post Office Box 291, HR-10001 Zagreb, Croatia.
Paper based on a
presentation at the 12th International Symposium on Separation
Sciences, Lipica, Slovenia,
September 27–29, 2006.
Abstract
A simple and
rapid method for determination of low concentrations of nicotine and cotinine in
urine has been developed.
The method is
based on headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) followed by gas
chromatographic determination and mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS). The
calibration curves were linear (r > 0.9998) over the concentration range tested
(1–500 µg L–1), with detection limits of 1.1 µg L–1 and
0.9 µg L–1 for nicotine and cotinine, respectively. The repeatability
for nicotine and cotinine (expressed as relative standard deviation) was < 9%.
The accuracy of the method ranged from 90 to 99%.
The method was applied for the quantitative analysis of nicotine and cotinine in
urine samples collected from 30 nonsmokers, 15 without any environmental tobacco
smoke (ETS) exposure (group I) and 15 who reported exposure to ETS (group II).
There were statistically significant differences between groups I and II for
nicotine (p < 10–4; ranges 2.1–28.0 and 10.1–499.7 µg L–1)
and cotinine (p < 10–5; ranges < 0.9–15.0 and 14.5–200.9 µg L–1).
Good sensitivity, short analysis time, small sample volume, no solvent use and
sample preparation, make the method convenient for determination of nicotine and
cotinine in nonsmokers’ urine.
Keywords: cotinine, nicotine, nonsmokers, urine, HS-SPME, GC-MS.