Ethanol in breath

Diskin A.M., P. Spanel and D. Smith Time variation of ammonia, acetone, isoprene and ethanol in breath a quantitative SIFT-MS study over 30 days. Physiol. Meas. 24 (2003) I07-II9. 

The ratio 2300 Is sometimes called the Henry s law constant for the ethanol In blood-ethanol in breath system. It Is assumed to be independent of temperature over the narrow ranges encountered in forensic work. However, in using molar concentration units for ethanol In blood and in breath, is unitless. This differs from the units for the Henry s law constant used In the book(Unit 11, p. 184 i.e. mol dm" atm" )because, although we expressed the concentration of the solute In the liquid In the units of mol dm" , the dissolvinggas was expressed intermsof partial pressure (in atm). Workir with partial pressures is more useful when the solubility of gases iike02, CO2, N2 is being considered. The conversion factor is ... 

Symptoms of exposure Irritates mucous membranes dermatitis with ethanol consumption flush, erythema, pruritus, urticaria, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, dizziness, difficulty in breathing. Contact with skin may cause allergic reaction (NIOSH, 1997). 

In Australia there have been discussions as to how to make evidential breathalyzer measurements traceable to national or international standards. The amount of ethanol in a motorist is required by law to be less than a prescribed concentration, for many countries between 0.0 and 0.08 g per 100 mL blood. Recently there has been a move to change legislation to a limit of a given mass per 210 L of breath to avoid arguments about the blood/breath partition coefficient. As with any forensic measurement, metrological trace-ability is a key component of a successful prosecution. At present police buy standard solutions of ethanol in water from certifying authorities, with... 

When suspected drunk drivers are tested with a Breathalyzer, the alcohol (ethanol) in the exhaled breath is oxidized to acetic acid with an acidic solution of potassium dichromate ... 

Ethanol in air mixtures as standards for the new generation of evidential breath alcohol analysers. 

Similar techniques are used to measure alcohol in blood, serum, saliva, or urine and for postmortem specimens (e.g. vitreous fluid and skeletal muscle). Determination of ethanol in expired air requires specialized breath alcohol analyzers (see section on Breath Alcohol). 

Statutory laws for driving under the influence of alcohol were originally based on the concentration of ethanol in venous whole blood. Because the collection of blood is invasive and requires intervention by medical personnel, the determination of alcohol in expired air has long been the mainstay of evidential alcohol measurements.There is also growing clinical interest m the determination of breath alcohol at the point-of-care. The fundamental principle for use of breath analysis is that alcohol in capillary alveolar blood rapidly equilibrates with alveolar air in a ratio... 

Jones AW. Measuring ethanol in saliva with the QED enzymatic test device Comparison of results with blood and breath alcohol concentrations. J Anal Toxicol 1995 19 169-74. 

Jones AW. Pharmacokinetics of ethanol in saliva comparison with blood and breath alcohol profiles, subjective feelings of intoxication, and diminished performance. Clin Chem 1993 39 1837-44. 

The oxide-semiconductor-based ethanol sensor is being used to screen intoxicated drivers. In the test condition on the road, the ambient concentrations of CO and N02 can be up to 100 and lOppm due to the emissions from gasoline and diesel engines, respectively.61 The results shown in Fig. 12.6 suggest that the present sensors may be applied for selective detection of ethanol. Acetone is a very rare component in an ordinary ambient atmosphere. However, the expiration of a diabetes patient can contain acetone.62 Acetone concentration in breath air can reach up to 300 ppm in the case of an aceto-acidotic coma related to diabetes mellitus.63,64 This might interfere the ethanol sensor. A high selectivity to ethanol is required for such applications. The SZ sensor at 300°C and the ZW sensor at 400°C can satisfy these requirements. On the contrary, to examine the health condition of a diabetes patient, selective detection of acetone without the interference with alcohol is desirable. In this case, the W sensor at 400°C will be of advantageous. 

The alcohol in beverages, hair spray, and mouthwashes is ethanol. Ethanol is a volatile liquid that evaporates rapidly at room temperature. Because of this volatility, drinking an alcoholic beverage results in a level of gaseous ethanol in the breath that is proportional to the level of alcohol in the bloodstream. About 50 percent of all automobile accidents that result in a fatality are caused by intoxicated drivers. Law officers can determine quickly whether a person is legally intoxicated by using an instrument called a breath analyzer, or Breathalyzer. 

The police often use a device called a breath analyzer to test drivers suspected of being drunk. The chemical basis of this device is a redox reaction. A sample of the driver s breath is drawn into the breath analyzer, where it is treated with an acidic solution of potassium dichromate. The alcohol (ethanol) in the breath is converted to acetic acid as shown in the following equation ... 

Despite the introduction of evidential breath ethanol instruments, the measurement of blood ethanol in road traffic... 

A chemical "breathalyzer" test works because ethanol in the breath is oxidized by the dichromate ion (orange) to form acetic acid and chromium(lll) ion (green). The balanced reaction is... 

Certain substances have been reported to potentiate the toxicity of paraquat. These include transition metal ions such as copper (Kohen and Chevion 1985) and ethanol (Kuo and Nanikawa 1990). Blood paraquat levels showed significant elevation in rabbits, and the mortality rates increased when the animals were orally administered paraquat combined with ethanol in amounts of 2.0 and 3.8 g/kg. Continuous breathing of high oxygen concentrations 12-24 hours after administration of paraquat caused severe and extensive pulmonary lesions and interstitial fibrosis (Selman et al. 1985). On the other hand, a reverse sequence of treatment— inhalation of high oxygen concentrations followed by paraquat administration—caused no mortality and pulmonary lesions. 

The Laboratory of the Government Chemist has estimated the uncertainty in the measurement of ethanol in blood via breath analysis as... 

The spectrum of ethanol vapour is similar. Study the spectrum and identify two peaks that you think may be used to measure the ethanol concentration in breath. WiU (a) the absorbance (b) the % transmittance of the peaks be proportional to C2H5OH concentration ... 

Concentration ratio = 1.74 X 10-2/7.60 x 10- -2300 (to three significant figures). Put anotherway, there are about 2300 more molecules of ethanol in blood than in the same volume of breath. 

A small fuel cell in this portable breath tester catalyzes the oxidation of ethanol by oxygen in the air. The oxidation generates an electric current that is proportional to the concentration of ethanol in the sample. 

Jones, A.W. Beylich, K.M. Bjorneboe, A. Ingum, J. Morland, J. (1992) Measuring ethanol in blood and breath for legal purposes variability between laboratories and between breath test instruments. Clinical Chemistry. 38,5,743-747. 

The dried thorn hooks of Uncaria sinensis, U rhynchophylla, and U. kawakamii (Rubiaceae) are known as Cho-Toh-Koh in the Chinese herbal medicine system in Japan, and have been used as a sedative for a long time. An ethanol extract of this crude drug provides a temporary hypotensive response in the rabbit (150mg/kg), with an increase in breathing rate and a decrease in arterial blood flow [1]. 

Although this method is little used in the alcoholic beverage industries, mainly because of its lack of specificity, it has found extensive application in breath and blood ethanol analyses associated with drink-driving cases. This method will be considered in more detail below. 

The ethanol in the breath sample is oxidized in the fuel cell as follows according to reaction [X] ... 

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