The effect of modified starches on the adsorption of cigarette mainstream smoke composition

In this work modified starches such as porous starch (PS) and cross-linked phosphorylated porous starch (PPS) were used as tobacco filter to investigate their adsorption efficiency on the tar, ammonia (NH3), hydrocyanic acid (HCN), crotonaldehyde, and total particulate matter (TPM) in mainstream cigarette smoke. The pore properties and structural stability of the modified starches have been evaluated and the adsorption relationship between the modified starches and the main toxicants in tobacco smoke has also been established. Analytes of mainstream smoke from experimental cigarettes show reductions in yields of some measured constituents in mainstream cigarette smoke, such as tar, HCN, NH3, crotonaldehyde, and TPM. The largest reductions are for NH3 levels, up to 35.93% in one case, observed from the tobacco filter containing PPS. The largest reductions in mainstream yields of HCN (13.04%) and crotonaldehyde (31.06%) smoke toxicants were also observed. These results indicate that reducing exposure to some smoke toxicants is possible using the modified starches such as PS and PPS as tobacco filter.