Simultaneous high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of urinary mandelic and phenylglyoxylic acids as indirect evaluation of styrene exposure

Styrene is rapidly metabolised to mandelic acid (MA) and phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA), which are excreted in urine. In this work, we have developed a simple, sensitive and specific high-performance liquid chromatographic method with minor sample preparation procedures for the simultaneous determination of MA and PGA in urine of workers exposed to styrene. Moreover, urine samples from workers of two plastic factories were analysed, styrene exposure levels of the workers were estimated and data obtained from the two factories were compared.