Determination of nicotine, tar, volatile organic compounds and carbonyls in mainstream cigarette smoke using a glass filter and a sorbent cartridge followed by the two-phase/one-pot elution method with carbon disulfide and methanol.

We have developed a new analytical method for the determination of nicotine, tar, volatile organic compounds and carbonyls in main-stream cigarette smoke using a sorbent cartridge packed with Carboxen 572 (CX-572) and a Cambridge filter pad (CFP) followed by the two-phase/one-pot elution method. A CX-572 cartridge is installed between the intake of the CFP and the pump of the smoking machine. Gaseous compounds collected with the CX-572 cartridge and total particulate matter (TPM) collected with the CFP are coeluted simultaneously in the same vial and then analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and gas chromatograph-thermal conductivity detector (GC/TCD). Carbonyl compounds are determined by adding derivatizing reagent (2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine, DNPH) to the eluate followed by HPLC analysis. VOCs and nicotine are determined by GC/MS, and water is determined by GC/TCD. The same sample eluate solution is used for HPLC, GC/MS and GC/TCD analyses. As a result of measuring main-stream cigarette smoke generated from reference cigarettes, almost all carbonyl compounds and VOCs except formaldehyde were passed through a CFP and trapped in a CX-572 cartridge. 100% of nicotine, tar and TPM were trapped in a CFP. 50% of water and 53% of formaldehyde were trapped in a CFP. The one-pot data is almost equal to the sums of CFP (particulate matter) and CX-572 (gaseous compounds) data. The two-phase/one-pot elution method can simultaneously measure nicotine, tar, volatile organic compounds and carbonyl compounds in cigarette smoke with simple operation and small amounts of reagents.