Determination of kerosene and light oil components in blood

A sensitive and rapid method to analyse fuel components in blood from rats exposed to kerosene or light oil vapour was developed by making use of capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The aliphatic hydrocarbons with carbon numbers 8-10 and aromatics such as toluene, xylene, 3- and 4-ethyltoluene and trimethylbenzenes were clearly detected in blood from rats exposed to kerosene or light oil vapour, using the head-space method combined with the salting-out technique. The concentration ratio of pseudocumene to toluene in blood exposed to light oil was higher than that in the case of exposure to kerosene. The lower limits of detection were 50 pg and 1 ng in toluene and pseudocumene, respectively. Our suggestion is that this method is useful in forensic investigations to detect fuel components in blood and for the purposes of differentiating kerosene and light oil in blood tissues.