THE USE OF FURFURAL FOR THE DETERMINATION OF ACETONE BODIES IN BIOLOGICAL FLUIDS

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Abstract
A rapid and sensitive method for the determination of acetone plus acetoacetate, and total acetone bodies in blood and urine is described. It is based upon the condensation of acetone and furfural in the presence of a strong base to form difurfurylidene–acetone, which develops a red to violet color in strong acid. A standard Thunberg tube, which is heated and cooled in a water bath, is used as a microrefluxing and a microdistillation unit. The effective range is from 1 to 6 μg of acetone per sample. The average standard deviation, based on recoveries of added material, was 5%. When the method was applied to determinations of blood and urine of several species, the results agreed with those reported by others.