Volatile N-nitrosamines were quantitatively determined in mainstream and sidestream smoke of commercial cigarettes using gas chromatography-thermal energy analysis (GLC-TEA). The smoke was trapped in ascorbic acid solution buffered at pH 4.5 and then extracted with dichloromethane; the organic phase was chromatographed on basic alumina and analyzed by GLC-TEA. The mainstream smoke of 22 different commercial cigarettes from Germany and Switzerland contained between 0.1 and 27 ng dimethylnitrosamine (DMN), 1.5 and 29 ng nitrosopyrrolidine (NPY) and traces of methylethylnitrosamine (MEN). The side-stream smoke of these cigarettes contained between 143 and 415 ng DMN, 3.1 and 27 ng MEN and 28 and 150 ng NPY. In a final experiment we measured the DMN concentration in a sealed experimental chamber as a function of the number of cigarettes smoked and recovered 68-87% of the DMN values found when using the sidestream collection device applied in the other experiments.

The methods currently used for the determination of pesticide residues on tobacco are compared to one another, and a new method is described which results from a combination of extraction and clean-up of the extract. For that purpose, a modified Soxhlet extractor is used which serves at the same time as clean-up column. The comparison to other methods shows clear advantages as regards saving of analysis time and consumption of solvents.