The Determination of Isopropyl Alcohol in the Presence of Acetone in the Urine.*

Isopropyl has replaced ethyl alcohol in many such pharmaceutical preparations and cosmetics as mouth washes, dental solutions, and hair tonics. Although the physiology and toxicity of this material are fairly well known, a thorough knowledge of the metabolism involves a method for the separate determination of isopropyl alcohol and acetone, the chief product of its oxidation in the body. Many of the useful procedures for detecting acetone will also give positive results with the alcohol, either as such, or after decomposition under the conditions of the reaction. The present study describes a procedure for the determination of acetone and isopropyl alcohol when both are present in the urine. Under the conditions of the method isopropyl alcohol gives a maximal yield of acetone but it is realized that other compounds containing the isopropyl group would yield some acetone. The principle of the method consists in the oxidation of the isopropyl alcohol to acetone and the measurement of the resulting acetone as the mercuric sulfate complex of Denig6s (1898). The preformed acetone is determined on a separate sample by distilling into hydroxylamine hydrochloride and titrating the acid liberated in the condensation of the acetone with the hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The procedure for the total acetone is essentially like that of Van Slyke (1917) for acetone bodies in the urine.