Determination of trichloroethylene metabolites in rat liver homogenate using headspace gas chromatography.

An headspace gas chromatographic (HSGC) method for determination of trichloroethylene metabolites in rat liver homogenates is described. These metabolites are chloral hydrate (CH), trichloroethanol (TCE), trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and the glucuronic acid conjugate of trichloroethanol (TCE-beta-glucuronide). The method is based on selective thermal conversion of CH and TCA into chloroform, which is determined together with trichloroethanol by HSGC using electron-capture detection. TCE-beta-glucuronide was determined as the difference between free TCE and total TCE after enzymatic hydrolysis with beta-glucuronidase. Synthesized TCE-beta-glucuronide was used to compare the efficiency of enzymatic and acid hydrolysis of the conjugate. Enzymatic hydrolysis was found to be advantageous for determination of TCE-beta-glucuronide.