1 research outputs found
Influence of Chlorinating Agents on the Formation of Stable Biomarkers in Hair for the Retrospective Verification of Exposure
Chlorine, as a dual-use chemical, is an essential industrial
chemical
which has been used as a chemical weapon in the past due to its toxicity
and availability. The retrospective verification of chlorine intoxication
is often especially challenging, and unambiguous markers are still
missing. In this study, the effects of different chlorinating and
oxidizing agents on human hair were investigated. Samples were exposed
to a variety of chlorinating chemicals for a short time and then completely
hydrolyzed by a HBr solution to break down their keratin proteins
into individual amino acids. After derivatization and targeted liquid
chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, 3-chlorotyrosine and 3,5-dichlorotyrosine
were unambiguously identified from human hair exposed to chlorine,
hypochlorite, and sulfuryl chloride. Our results show long-term stability
of these markers in the biological matrix, as the chlorotyrosines
can still be found 10 months post-exposure at the same levels. Finally,
an untargeted analysis was able to discriminate between some of the
different intoxicants