Determination of thiocyanate anion as an organic derivative by gas chromatography

A simple and sensitive gas chromatographic method has been established for the determination of biologically active thiocyanate anion as pentafluorobenzyl thiocyanate. The method is based on the partition of an ion-pair from the thiocyanate anion and a complex crypstand to a benzene layer for derivatization with pentafluorobenzyl bromide. The resulting derivative was analyzed by gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The quantitation range for thiocyanate anion was over 0.086 and 3.45 nmol. The detection limit of thiocyanate in 0.2 ml sample is about 34 pmol. The effects of several parameters such as base or acid, reaction time and the amount of pentafluorobenzyl bromide were evaluated for the optimization of partition and derivatization of thiocyanate anion. Application of the method to the analysis of thiocyanate in waste water and human saliva proved to be feasible.