Determination of trichloroacetate in human serum and urine by ion chromatography

A simple and rapid ion chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of trichloroacetate in human serum and urine. Two short (50 x 5 mm i.d.) low-capacity anion-exchange resin columns in series were used as the analytical column and a mixture of 35 mM sodium hydroxide, 20 mM p-hydroxybenzonitrile and 2% V/V acetonitrile (pH 12.3) as the eluent. The calibration graph was rectilinear from 0.3 to 33 mg l-1 of trichloroacetate at 10 microS with a detection limit (3 sigma) of 0.08 mg l-1. The recovery of trichloroacetate, obtained by analysing spiked serum and urine samples, was in the range 98.2-101% and the coefficient of variation was always less than 3.0%.