High-resolution time and spatial imaging of tobacco and its pyrolysis products during a cigarette puff by microprobe sampling photoionisation mass spectrometry

The time- and space-resolved chemical signatures of gases and vapours formed in solid-state combustion processes are difficult to examine using recent analytical techniques. A machine-smoked cigarette represents a very reproducible model system for dynamic solid-state combustion. By using a special sampling system (microprobe unit) that extracts the formed gases from inside of the burning cigarette, which is coupled to a photoionisation mass spectrometer, it was possible to study the evolution of organic gases during a 2-s cigarette puff. The concentrations of various pyrolysis and combustion products such as 1,3-butadiene, toluene, acetaldehyde and phenol were monitored on-line at different sampling points within cigarettes. A near-microscopic-scale spatial resolution and a 200-ms time resolution were achieved. Finally, the recorded information was combined to generate time-resolved concentration maps, showing the formation and destruction zones of the investigated compounds in the burning cigarette. The combustion zone at the tip of cigarette, where e.g. 1,3-butadiene is predominately formed, was clearly separable from the pyrolysis zones. Depending on the stability of the precursor (e.g. lignin or cellulose), the position of pyrolytic formation varies. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that soft photoionisation mass spectrometry in conjunction with a microprobe sampling device can be used for time- and space-resolved analysis of combustion and pyrolysis reactions. In addition to studies on the model cigarette, further model systems may be studied with this approach. This may include further studies on the combustion of biomass or coal chunks, on heterogeneously catalysed reactions or on spray, dust and gas combustion processes.