Reevaluation of volatile nitrosamines in human feces

Abstract

AbstractThe artifactual generation of N‐nitrosamines during analytical procedures and the presence of volatile nitrosamines in human feces were reinvestigated. Various solvents and desiccants — sodium sulfate, magnesium sulfate and calcium chloride—were highly catalytic in nature and induced marked N‐nitrosation of secondary amines. During the N‐nitrosamine analysis, high levels of volatile nitrosamines, detected in the original method using dichloromethane as the extracting solvent and sodium sulfate as the desiccant, were artifactually generated. Few volatile nitrosamines were detected by the new method, in which extraction by ether and dehydration by potassium carbonate were carried out. The recovery values of volatile nitrosamines by the new method were similar to the values obtained by the original method. Therefore, it is concluded that volatile nitrosamines do not seem likely to be present in significant amounts in human feces.