Online liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry cyanide determination in blood

An original liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) method coupled to online extraction has been developed for cyanide determination in blood. A method involving fluorimetric detection after naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxyaldehyde (NDA) complexation by taurine in the presence of cyanide was previously described. Its performance was limited because of the absence of an internal standard (IS). Using cyanide isotope (13)C(15)N as IS allowed quantification in MS-MS. After the addition of (13)C(15)N, 25 μL of blood were diluted in water and deproteinized with methanol. Following derivatization with NDA and taurine for 10 min at 4°C, 100 μL was injected into the online LC-MS-MS system. An Oasis HLB was used as an extraction column, and a C18 Atlantis was the analytical column. The chromatographic cycle was performed with an ammonium formate (20 mM, pH 2.8) (solvent A) and acetonitrile/solvent A (90:10, v/v) gradient in 6 min. Detection was performed in negative electrospray ionization mode (ESI(-)) with a Quattro Micro. For quantification, transitions of derivatives formed with CN and (13)C(15)N were monitored, respectively, as follows: 299.3/191.3 and 301.3/193.3. The procedure was fully validated, linear from 26 to 2600 ng/mL with limit of detection of 10 ng/mL. This method, using a small blood sample, is not only simple, but also time saving. The specificity and sensitivity of LC-MS-MS coupled to online extraction and using (13)C(15)N as the IS make this method very suitable for cyanide determination in blood and could be useful in forensic toxicology.