Abstract
Human head hairs from different donors were compared by pyrolysis-capillary column gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A few major components in the pyrograms were found to differ among the donors. Some of these gave mass spectra similar to hexadodecanol, and others were identified as phenol and cresol. Other compounds identified in the hair pyrolyzates include carbon dioxide, carbon oxide sulfide, methanethiol, carbon disulfide, toluene, pyridine, styrene, pyrrole, methylpyrrole, and indole. The 3,6-substituted 2,5-piperazinediones, expected to result from cleavage of CN bonds in the polypeptide chains followed by cyclization, were not observed. The presence of a compound closely matching a reference spectrum for 5-methyl-2,4-imidazolidinedione suggested a mechanism leading to a family of 5-substituted 2,4-imidazolidinediones. Four of these compounds have been tentatively identified from their chemical ionization and electron impact ionization mass spectra. Each is thought to arise from the incorporation of a particular amino acid as follows: methyl-substituted from alanine, 1-methylethyl from valine, 1-methylpropyl from isoleucine, and 2-methylpropyl from leucine.
Published Version
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