Acrylonitrile, possibly carcinogenic to humans, is mainly present in tobacco smoke and undergoes metabolism to form N-acetyl-S-(2-cyanoethyl)-cysteine (CEMA) and N-acetyl-S-(2-hydroxyethyl)-cysteine (HEMA). A method based on the direct dilution to simultaneously identify and quantify CEMA and HEMA in human urine by rapid resolution liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (RRLC-MS-MS) was validated for assessing smoking-related acrylonitrile exposure. The recovery rates of the whole analytical procedure were 98.2-106.0% and 97.1-112.7% for HEMA and CEMA, respectively. The linear range of standard solutions was 0.5-100.0 ng/mL for CEMA and was 0.2-40.0 ng/mL for HEMA. RRLC using a small particle size column was combined with a tandem mass spectrometry system, which lowered the detection limit of analytes, reduced the ion suppression of mass and shortened the analysis time. The proposed method was successfully applied for the analysis of 126 urine samples from smokers and nonsmokers.
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