Gas chromatographic determination of diethyl fumarate in malathion extracts and preparations used for control of body lice

Electron-capture and flame-ionization procedures were devised to analyze the diethyl fumarate and malathion in malathion dusts, cloth extracts, and commercial preparations. Also, since diethyl fumarate, a reputed skin irritant, is much more volatile than malathion and is readily lost by volatilization from cloth and dusts used to control body lice, Pediculus humanus humanus L., the rate of loss was determined. The electron-capture method proved to be operable at the picogram level for diethyl fumarate and in the low nanogram range for malathion.