Determination of cyanide in blood by reaction head-space gas chromatography

A method describing determination of cyanide in blood by head-space gas chromatography with electron capture detector was reported. The method involves transformation of cyanide into cyanogen chloride by reacting hydrogen cyanide with chloramine-T on a stick of filter paper in the space above the blood in the head-space vial. The recovery was 84-96% and the coefficient of variation was 3.3-7.2%. The limit of quantitation was about 0.01 mg cyanide/l.