Automated radioimmunoassay of nicotine

We have developed an automated nonequilibrium procedure for the radioimmunoassay of nicotine. The use of a unique iodinated nicotine derivative in this procedure gave a sensitivity of 10 micrograms/l for nicotine with a between-run precision of 7.4% and within-run precision of 6.0%. Nicotine levels of 60 to 67 micrograms/ml were found in subjects 15 min after smoking one standard cigarette. The technique herein reported is a very rapid, and sensitive radioimmunoassay for nicotine and facilitates the determination of nicotine in smoking subjects during the actual process of smoking.