Urinary hexane diamine as an indicator of occupational exposure to hexamethylene diisocyanate

The occupational exposure of 19 men to hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) vapour was monitored during one 8-h shift. It ranged from 0.30 to 97.7 micrograms/m3. This was compared with the urinary output of hexane diamine (HDA) liberated by acid hydrolysis from its conjugates in post-shift samples. The excretion varied from 1.36 to 27.7 micrograms g creatinine, and there was a linear association of HDI air concentration with urinary HDA excretion. The validity of the urinary analysis was confirmed by simultaneous blind analysis in another laboratory. The results had an excellent linear concordance. Thus, it seems that while the gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric detection method requires sophisticated apparatus, the results are very useful to occupational health practices. A biological exposure index limit of 19 micrograms HDA/g creatinine in a post-shift urine specimen is proposed as an occupational limit level of HDI monomer (time-weighted average = 75 micrograms/m3). Most importantly, biological monitoring of HDA is sensitive enough to be used at and below the current allowable exposure limit levels.