Ethanol is one of the most frequently tested and the most important substances in deter-mining the manner of death, particularly in the case of violent death. However, the presence of ethanol in blood obtained from corpse, especially from the putrid one, could not be the evidence of drinking before death. It is mainly because the ubiquitous yeast can ferment glucose to produce ethanol in dead body, and partly because various alcohols can be detects d by non-specific methods.
To recognize the variety of alcohols, to measure the amount of ethanol, and to identify the index material, n-propanol, which may be used for quantitation of the amount of putrid ethanol in corpse, the bloods, hepatic tissues, ascites and pleural fluids obtained serially from putrefied rat body were introduced to gas chromatography. It equipped with flame ionization detector with Carbowax 20M capillary column.
By putrefaction only, ethanol could be produced at the level of medicolegal significance, up to 3.32 mg/ml in the blood. And various alcohols, such as propanol, butanol with acetaldehyde and acetone were detected in various specimens, The uneven distribution of ethanol in various samples and the concomittant presence of n-propanol can be used as index of putrid ethanol, but only in limited extent.
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