Analysis of Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters in Hair by Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)

Abstract

Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) can be used as alcohol markers in hair. The purpose of this study was to validate a new method for the detection of FAEE in hair, reducing the extraction time. Hair samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after headspace solid-phase microextraction with deuterated internal standards. Linear curves for ethyl myristate, palmitate and stearate were obtained in the range considered. The limits of detection were 0.8, 0.005, and 0.01 and the lower limits of quantification were 1.8, 0.01, and 0.4 for ethyl myristate, palmitate and stearate, respectively. Intra- and inter-assay precision and accuracy were less than 12.5% and 16.1%, respectively. Recoveries were higher than 13.5% in all cases. Finally, the method was applied to analyze hair of alcoholics, social drinkers, and teetotallers.

Keywords:

• Alcohol markers
• fatty acid ethyl esters
• gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
• hair analysis
• headspace solid-phase microextraction

Notes

m: male; f: female; SD: social drinkers (≤20 g ethanol/day); T: teetotallers; A: alcoholics.