A turbidimetric method for the determination of pentachlorophenol in urine.

PENTACHLOROPHEXOL (PCP) is used widely iii agriculture and industry because of its broad spectrum of toxicity for lower plants and animals. The solubility of PCI’ in organic solvents and the solubility of its salts in aqueous solutions accounts for its wide range of applications. PCP may enter the body by way of inhalation, ingestion, or absorption through the skin (1). Regardless of the route of entry into the body, it is excreted principally in the urine within 48 hr. (2). Urine, therefore, is the logical specimen for demonstrating exposure to PCP. Human illness and death attributed to PCP have been reported (3-7) but the reports frequently do not include analyses of the PCP content in urine or tissues. No information has been found on the amount of PCP excreted in the urine of individuals who are exposed regularly to this substance. The methods of analysis of PCI’ which are reported in the literature require procedures with which clinical laboratory personnel may not be familiar (8). The technics are further limited by requiring ultraviolet spectrophotometry for quantitation of the PCP recovered. These procedures can be performed in a well-equipped and well-staffed research center, but they do not fill the needs of the physician who requires a simple analysis to confirm his tentative diagnosis of PCP poisoning; nor do they fill the need of industry for a routine monitoring technic to establish the extent of exposure sustained by its personnel. This report presents a method for analysis of PCP based upon differential extraction and a turbidirnetric determination. The utility of the method has been demonstrated by more than 2 years’ use in the monitoring of an industrially exposed population.