This paper presents the authors' new method, pulse heating, for determining the concentration of ethanol and other volatile substances in minute amounts of biological materials such as blood and urine. The method uses a Curie Point Pyrolyzer (JAI Model JHP-3) connected to a GC or GC-MS. The method's advantages include: (1) no pretreatment and easy handling of the samples tested; (2) a short analysis time, within 15min; (3) accurate and reliable results, correlating well with the results of the conventional head space method. However, pulse heating works well in situations where the head space method has problems. The pulse heating method can be used in routine work for screening and quantitative analysis of volatile substances in forensic practice and police activities.
Samenvatting