ANALYSIS OF CIGARETTE SMOKE BY HEADSPACE SOLID PHASE MICROEXTRACTION GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY

This paper reports the analysis of the combustion products from moderate and low-tar cigarettes. The compounds were collected by a solvent trap coupled with automatic headspace solid phase micro-extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The fiber, solvent system, extraction temperature, and extraction time were investigated by orthogonal experimental design. The optimized conditions included the use of an 85 mu m carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fiber, tert-butyl methyl ether as the solvent, an extraction temperature of 110 degrees C, and an extraction time of 30 min. Thirty compounds were identified by GC-MS, and twelve aromatic hydrocarbons (51.08%) and 11 hydrocarbons (36.38%) were the major components. The 1,2,3-Trimethylbenzene (79.60%) and furfural (60.03%) had the largest reduction in low-tar cigarettes compared to moderate-tar cigarettes. This method was shown to be fast, simple, accurate, and precise.