Gaschromatographic determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aza-arenes, aromatic amines in the particle and vapor phase of mainstream and sidestream smoke of cigarettes.

The present arrangement collects particles and semivolatiles of main- and sidestream smoke and allows a recovery of the trapped substances nearly quantitatively and without impurities. The fractionation procedure allows to separate various groups of carcinogens such as PAH, aza-arenes and aromatic amines for analytical and biological studies. Sidestream smoke contains ten times more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) compared with mainstream smoke. This holds also true for aza-arenes and amines. PAH of the gaseous phases include only 1% of the particle-bound PAH.