Chlorine, as a dual-use chemical, is an essential industrial chemical which has been used as a chemical weapon in the past due to its toxicity and availability. The retrospective verification of chlorine intoxication is often especially challenging and unambiguous markers are still missing. In this project, the effects of different chlorinating and oxidizing agents on human hair were investigated. Samples were exposed to a variety of chlorinating chemicals for a short time and then completely hydrolyzed by a HBr solution to break down its keratin proteins into individual amino acids. After derivatization and targeted LC-MS analysis, 3-chlorotyrosine and 3,5-dichlorotyrosine were unambiguously identified from human hair exposed to chlorine, hypochlorite and sulfuryl chloride. Our results show long-term stability of these markers in the biological matrix, as the chlorotyrosines can still be found 10 months post-exposure on the same levels. Finally, an untargeted approach was able to discriminate between some of the different intoxicants.

Influence of chlorinating agents on the formation of stable biomarkers in hair for the retrospective verification of exposure

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