Identification of dihydrothiazoles in urine of male mice

The compounds 2-isopropyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole and 2-sec-butyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole were identified in urine of male mice. Their excretion in mouse urine is sex-dependent. In the urine of female mice the two dihydrothiazoles are either absent or present only in trace amounts. The analytical procedure includes the adsorption of the volatile mouse urine constituents on Tenax GC, their gas chromatographic separation and the detection of the sulfur compounds by the sulfur-specific detector. The identified compounds were synthesized. Natural and synthetic compounds had the same mass spectrometric properties and retention data.