Determination of methyl ethyl ketone and its metabolites in urine using capillary gas chromatography

A method is described for the determination of the concentration of methyl ethyl ketone and its metabolites: 2-butanol, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone and the meso- and d,l-isomers of 2,3-butanediol in urine. The analytes were isolated from urine by solid-phase extraction and analysed by capillary gas chromatography. The recovery rates were 50-70% for the 2,3-butanediol isomers and 88-96% for the other analytes. The precision of the method ranged from 5 to 12% (S.D.%). The detection limit was 1.0 and 1.4 mg/l for meso- and d,l-2,3-butanediol, respectively, and ranged from 0.1 to 0.15 mg/l for the other analytes.