Comparative Study of Sample Carriers for the Identification of Volatile Compounds in Biological Fluids Using Raman Spectroscopy

Vibrational spectroscopic techniques and especially Raman spectroscopy are gaining ground in substituting the officially established chromatographic methods in the identification of ethanol and other volatile substances in body fluids, such as blood, urine, saliva, semen, and vaginal fluids. Although a couple of different carriers and substrates have been employed for the biochemical analysis of these samples, most of them are suffering from important weaknesses as far as the analysis of volatile compounds is concerned. For this reason, in this study three carriers are proposed, and the respective sample preparation methods are described for the determination of ethanol in human urine samples. More specifically, a droplet of the sample on a highly reflective carrier of gold layer, a commercially available cuvette with a mirror to enhance backscattered radiation sealed with a lid, and a home designed microscope slide with a cavity coated with gold layer and covered with transparent cling film have been evaluated. Among the three proposed carriers, the last one achieved a quick, simple, and inexpensive identification of ethanol, which was used as a case study for the volatile compound, in the biological samples. The limit of detection (LoD) was found to be 1.00 μL/mL, while at the same time evaporation of ethanol was prevented.