Gas chromatographic determination of methylcyclopentadienylmanganesetricarbonyl in biological tissues and fluids.

The procedure described for quantitating methylcyclopentadienylmanganese-tricarbonyl (MMT, a fuel additive) in small samples of biological fluids and tissues is based on extracting the MMT into hexane containing biphenyl as internal standard, followed by gas chromatographic analysis. With flame ionisation detection, as little as 1-2 ppm of MMT in tissue can be determined relatively easily. The method is also applicable to in vitro investigations of MMT metabolism, and it has been used to show that the enzymic oxidation of MMT by rat-liver microsomes is a cytochrome P-450-dependent process.