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Related Experiment Videos

Diethyl ether interference with infrared breath analysis.

C M Bell1, S J Gutowski, S Young

  • 1State Forensic Science Laboratory, Victoria, Australia.

Journal of Analytical Toxicology
|May 1, 1992
PubMed
Summary
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Diethyl ether vapor can interfere with breath alcohol tests, causing falsely high readings. Gas chromatography confirmed these false positives were due to diethyl ether, not ethanol.

Area of Science:

  • Forensic Science
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Toxicology

Background:

  • Breath alcohol analysis is crucial for law enforcement and clinical monitoring.
  • Infrared absorption methods are commonly used for breath alcohol testing.
  • Potential interferents in breath samples can compromise test accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the interference of diethyl ether vapor with infrared breath alcohol analysis.
  • To determine the accuracy of common breathalyzer devices in the presence of diethyl ether.
  • To differentiate between diethyl ether and ethanol in breath samples.

Main Methods:

  • Two volunteers were exposed to diethyl ether vapor.
  • Breath samples were analyzed using Draeger Alcotest 7110, Siemens Alcomat V5.2F, and Seres Ethylometre 679T.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Gas chromatography was used to confirm the presence of diethyl ether in blood and breath samples.

    • Main Results:

    • One subject showed significant apparent alcohol readings (up to 0.4 g/100 mL) persisting for over 3 hours.
    • The second subject exhibited minimal apparent alcohol readings.
    • Gas chromatography confirmed that the detected substances were diethyl ether, not ethanol.

    Conclusions:

    • Diethyl ether vapor can cause substantial interference with infrared breath alcohol analysis.
    • The accuracy of breathalyzer devices can be compromised by diethyl ether exposure.
    • Gas chromatography is essential for differentiating diethyl ether from ethanol in forensic toxicology.