Spectrophotometric and gas chromatographic methods for detection and assay of mustard gas

A colorimetric method for detection and assay of mustard gas in urine after addition of thymolphthalein is reported. The detection limit was 80 ng/ml of urine. Mustard gas could also be detected in urine after extraction with gas chromatography using FID detector. The detection limit was 10 ng/ml. In addition, thiodiglycol, a metabolite of mustard gas, could be converted to mustard with concentrated HC1 at 100°C and detected with gas chromatography