An unusual case of non-fatal poisoning due to herbicide 4-chloro-2-methyl phenoxyacetic acid (MCPA)

Abstract

MCPA (4-chloro-2-methyl phenoxyacetic acid) is a systemic hormone-type selective herbicide readily absorbed by leaves and roots. Use of MCPA for murder or attempted murder is very rare in Sri Lanka. However, a reported case of attempted murder by adding MCPA to water will be discussed in this paper. Three extraction methods were carried out with urine samples spiked with MCPA, namely liquid-liquid extraction with chloroform, solid phase extraction using C18 cartridges and vortex mixing with methanolic hydrochloric acid. Based on the recovery results, solid phase extraction was selected as the most suitable method and applied in the analysis of urine and water samples. Identification of MCPA in urine, water and the suspected poison bottle was carried out by HPLC and was confirmed by GC-MS. 4-chloro -2- methyl phenol metabolite was also identified and confirmed in the urine sample of the patient by GC-MS. Quantitative analysis of MCPA was carried out by HPLC using a validated method where Zorbax XDB-C18 column was used with photo diode array detector. In this case, presence of MCPA in one patient's urine sample collected four days after the incident was confirmed by GC-MS and found at a concentration of 0.83μg/ml. MCPA was not identified in the urine samples collected after 13 days in other three patients. The water sample taken from the suspected water storage tank found to contain 101μg/ml of MCPA. The results showed that HPLC combined with GC-MS is suitable for forensic analysis of MCPA in urine.

Keywords: GC–MS; HPLC; MCPA.