Analysis of Cigarette Smoke by an Online Thermal Desorption System and Multidimensional GC-MS

Abstract

Single puffs of cigarette smoke with a wide continuous range of volatility are directly analyzed using a new system. The system consists of a smoking machine, an online thermal desorption system (TDS), and a multidimensional gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (MDGC-MS) system. The online TDS with the smoking machine collects the single-puff cigarette smoke with glass beads as the cryogenic adsorbent. The MDGC is composed of three capillary columns, Poraplot Q, and DB-WAX for separation and a deactivated capillary column for pressure balance, which enables simultaneous separation of the two different phases. The smoke desorbed from the TDS is divided into vapor and semivolatile phases and analyzed individually with each column by the MDGC. Thus, the system enables the overall analysis of the two phases simultaneously, including acetaldehyde and 1,4-benzenediol. This system also provides more appropriate analysis for compounds crossing the two phases such as toluene and pyridine. For the approach of introducing internal standards, a gas mixture of toluene-d(8) and o-xylene-d(10) is applied and the compounds are detected in the vapor and semivolatile phases, respectively.

A Real-Time Fast-Flow Tube Study of VOC and Particulate Emissions from Electronic, Potentially Reduced-Harm, Conventional, and Reference Cigarettes

“…A recent puff-by-puff cigarette study by Sampson et al (2014) used solid-phase microextraction-GCMS, which required less sample handling. Several other studies have analyzed cigarette smoke on a puff-per-puff basis using a variety of techniques such as two-dimensional characterization with fast GC combined with single-photon ionization mass spectrometry (Eschner et al 2011), GC ultraviolet-diode array detection (Hatzinikolaou et al 2006), and thermal desorption multidimensional GC-MS (Takanami et al 2003). Cigarette VOCs have also been analyzed in high resolution real-time studies including vacuum ultraviolet single-photon ionization TOF MS (Tan et al 2011), ion-molecule reaction MS (Liu et al 2010), and tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (Harward et al 2006; Thweatt et al 2007).…”

Analysis of the Gas Phase of Cigarette Smoke by Gas Chromatography Coupled with UV-Diode Array Detection

“…The complexity and chemical diversity of cigarette smoke gas phase has led to the development of analytical methods for their quantitative analysis that are usually laborious and time-consuming and utilize expensive equipment in combination with highly skilled personnel. These methods usually require, as an initial step, cryogenic trapping of the gas phase in either organic solvents or inert materials and subsequent analysis of the extract or the thermally desorbed gases by GC/MS. − In addition, for several of the above methods, GC/MS analysis of the extracts is only limited to conjugated dienes and single-ring aromatics, ,,, whereas quantification of carbonyl compounds is performed by HPLC after derivatization using either fluorescence 22,23,25 or UV 27 detection. Finally, NOx concentrations are almost universally detected in the bulk of the gas phase through chemiluminescence analysis. ,, …”

Aroma Characteristics of Stored Tobacco Cut Leaves Analyzed by a High Vacuum Distillation and Canister System

“…As TI chromatography may sometimes form a mixed shape of ion peaks with chemicals closely eluted, a QI that has a pure and symmetrical shape of the ion peak has to be selected as an adjusting fragment ion because the relative ratio of TI to QI in a pure chemical is always constant. Peak area ratios of individual components to the internal standard peak (1-pentanol: TI, 42 m/z; QI, 55 m/z) area were used as the variable of the peak (5,13,14). Analyses were carried out with five repetitions for each sample.…”