The slurry sampling technique has been applied for the determination of As, Cd, and Pb in mainstream cigarette smoke condensate (MS CSC) by graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The MS CSC of the 1R4F Reference Cigarette was collected by electrostatic precipitation and was subsequently prepared as two slurry samples with and without the dispersing agent Triton X-100. Comparison of results determined by ICP-MS analyses of the 1R4F MS CSC slurry samples with those from the conventional microwave digestion method revealed good agreement. The precision of Triton X-100 slurry sampling and of microwave-assisted digestion was better than 10% RSD, and both were superior to slurry sampling without use of Triton X-100. The accuracy of the analytical results for the Triton X-100 slurry sample was further verified by graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS). For GF-AAS, the method limits of detection are 1.6, 0.04, and 0.5 microg x L(-1) for As, Cd, and Pb, respectively. For ICP-MS, the method limits of detection are 0.06, 0.01, and 0.38 microg x L(-1) for As, Cd, and Pb, respectively. The MS CSC of the 1R4F Reference Cigarette was collected in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) smoking regime (35 mL puff volume of 2-s puff duration at an interval of 60 s) and the concentrations of As, Cd and Pb were 6.0+/-0.5, 69.3+/-2.8, and 42.0+/-2.1 ng/cigarette, respectively.

A method for differentiation of gas- and particulate-phase mercury in mainstream cigarette smoke was developed using electrostatic precipitation (EP) as the trap for the particulate phase and impingers containing acidic potassium permanganate solution as the trap for the gas-phase portion. The mercury collected from the gas phase was analyzed by conventional cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) and the particulate phase was analyzed by gold amalgamation CVAAS. Cigarettes were smoked under two smoking regimes, FTC (35-mL puff volume, 2 s puff duration and one puff every 60 s) and an alternative (45-mL puff volume, 2 s puff duration, one puff every 30 s and 50% of any ventilation holes blocked) currently recommended by the Massachusetts Department of Health. For the 1R4F reference cigarette smoked under the FTC smoking regime, the mercury found in the particulate phase was less than 0.2 ng/cig, compared with 4.9 ng/cig in the gas phase. By changing smoking parameters, the mercury concentration in mainstream smoke was found to change proportional to the delivery of cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) for the same type of cigarette. However, the mercury level for different types of cigarettes smoked under the same smoking parameters had no linear relationship with CSC delivery. Spiked recovery was 98% AA± 8% for gas-phase mercury and 97% AA± 2% for the particulate phase. These results indicate that the analytical method developed is suitable for the determination of mercury in mainstream smoke. For routine analytical work in a smoking laboratory, only the gas phase needs to be analyzed for determination of mercury in mainstream smoke because the amount of mercury in the particulate phase is negligible.