Determination of metaldehyde in human serum by headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Metaldehyde intoxication in a red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

“…A quick test for metaldehyde detection is to warm the bait slowly allowing it to sublime and form a substantial ‘snowfall’ of crystals. Metaldehyde has been detected by rapid headspace solid‐phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in human serum samples (Saito and others 2008). Acetaldehyde has not been detected in the serum, urine or brain of experimental animals after metaldehyde ingestion (Bates and others 2012).…”

Review of the molluscicide metaldehyde in the environment

“…62,63 More recently, GC/MS has proved popular for the analysis of metaldehyde, being a robust and relatively simple methodology. 64,65 Most workers use similar GC conditions with a non-polar column such as DB5-MS. 66 Typically, metaldehyde has a short retention time (typically ≲8 min) on this stationary phase. High oven temperatures of up to 300°C are needed to elute all the analytes that can be present, as dimers of metaldehyde and acetaldehyde can be formed in analysis and these bond more strongly to the non-polar stationary phase.…”

A review of current trends and advances in modern bio-analytical methods: Chromatography and sample preparation

“…Furthermore, the transfer of fibres to the GC as well as desorption should be performed immediately after extraction because of the high vapour pressure of analytes in the coating along with the risk of analyte loss during storage of the loaded fibre. No derivatization was necessary in case of HS-SPME GC assay of metaldehyde in human serum [220], amphetamine and methamphetamine in human urine [221] or captopril in human serum and pharmaceutical preparations, in which ion mobility spectrometry was employed for the detection [222]. In situ derivatization HS-SPME GC was of benefit in analysis of so-called club drugs (ketamine, methamphetamine, gamma-hydroxybutyrate and methylenedioxymethamphetamine) in human urine using pyridine and hexyl chloroformate for the derivatization prior to GC-MS analysis [223] or analysis of the 12 fatty acids in feces after derivatization with 1-pyrenyldiazomethane [224].…”