Analysis of four tobacco-specific nitrosamines in mainstream cigarette smoke of Virginia cigarettes by LC-MS/MS

An improved method was developed for the determination of the four major tobacco-specific nitrosamines（TSNAs） in mainstream cigarette smoke. The new method offers decreased sample preparation and analysis time as compared to traditional methods. This method uses isotope dilution liquid chromatography coupled with a tandem mass spectrometer with electrospray ionization and is significantly more sensitive than traditional methods. It also shows no evidence of artifactual formation of TSNAs. Sample concentrations were determined for four TSNAs in mainstream smoke using two isotopically labeled TSNAs analogues as internal standards. Mainstream smoke was collected on an industry standard 44-ram Cambridge filter pad, extracted with 0.1 mol/L ammonium acetate, purified by solid-phase extraction, and analyzed without further sample cleanup. The analytical column is a 3.9 mm×150 mm Waters Symmertry Shield RP18 column and volume fraction of the mobile phase is 50% methanol, 50% water containing 0.1% acetic acid. The results show that the linear range is 0.5-100.0 mg/L except for N-nitrosoanabasine （NAB） from 0.25 to 50.0 mg/L. The limits of detection are 0.1 mg/L for N-nitrosonornicotine （NNN）, 0.08 mg/L for 4-（methylnitrosamino）-1- （3-py-ridyl）-1-butanone （NNK）, 0.05 mg/L for N-nitrosoanatabine （NAT） and 0.06 mg/L for NAB. The recoveries of the four TSNAs are from 90.2% to 105.7%.

Characterization of particle size distribution of mainstream cigarette smoke generated by smoking machine with an electrical low pressure impactor

Cigarette smoking is a particle-related exposure. Studying the characteristics of the particle size distribution of cigarette smoke can aid in providing knowledge of smoke aerosol attributes. We used an electrical low pressure impactor （ELPI） to measure the particle size distribution of mainstream cigarette smoke generated by a smoking machine and provided a continuum of particle sizes of cigarette smoke from a whole cigarette. The results showed that the aerodynamic diameters （D, geometric mean of a channel） of particles ranged from 0.021 to 1.956 ~m, and the number concentrations were on the order of 105-109 cm-3 for different sizes of particles. The particle number of the size category below 0.1 p,m approximated that of the category 0.1-2.0 Ixm, and the particles in the size category of 0.1-2.0 μm contributed extremely heavily to total particulate mass. In addition, the results with small samples indicated that the tar yields normalized per milligram of nicotine showed an approximately linear increase with increasing concentration of total particles.

Chitosan Removes Toxic Heavy Metal Ions from Cigarette Mainstream Smoke

This study investigated the removal of heavy metal ions from cigarette mainstream smoke using chitosan. Chitosan of various deacetylation degrees and molecular weights were manually added to cigarette filters in different dosages. The mainstream smoke particulate matter was collected by a Cambridge filter pad, digested by a microwave digestor, and then analyzed for contents of heavy metal ions, including As（Ill/V）, Pb（II）, Cd（II）, Cr（III/VI） and Ni（II）, by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry （GFAAS）. The results showed that chitosan had a removal effect on Pb（II）, Cd（II）, Cr（III/VI） and Ni（II）. Of these, the percent re- moval of Ni（II） was elevated with an increasing dosage of chitosan. Chitosan of a high deace tylation degree exhibited good binding performance toward Cd（II）, Cr（III/VI） and Ni（II）, though with poor efficiency for Pb（II）. Except As（III/V）, all the tested metal ions showed similar tendencies in the growing contents with an increasing chitosan molecular weight. Nonetheless, the percent removal of Cr（III/VI） peaked with a chitosan molecular weight of 200 kDa, followed by a dramatic decrease with an increasing chitosan mo- lecular weight. Generally, chitosan had different removal effects on four out of five tested metal ions, and the percent removal of Cd（II）, Pb（II）, Cr（III/VI） and Ni（II） was approximately 55%, 45%, 50%, and 16%, respectively. In a word, chitosan used in cigarette filter can remove toxic heavy metal ions in the mainstream smoke, improve cigarette safety, and reduce the harm to smokers.

Evaluation of metal-doped manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieves in catalytic reduction of NO_x from cigarette mainstream smoke

A series of Ag,Cu and Co-doped manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieves(OMS-2) were synthesized and evaluated to remove nitrogen oxides(NOx) from cigarette mainstream smoke.The three kinds of catalysts were added to cigarettes for studying the capabilities of reducing NOx from cigarette mainstream smoke.The catalysis and reduction of NO in laboratory were studied.A mechanism for NOx catalytic reduction from burning cigarettes with the catalysts adding to cigarettes was described.The catalysts show excellent catalytic activity for NOx removal,especially the Ag-doped OMS-2 catalyst.0.5%(mass fraction) Ag-doped OMS-2 catalyst has the best ability to remove NOx from cigarette mainstream smoke.The use of Ag-doped OMS-2 as catalyst for removing carcinogenic compounds from cigarette smoke will be an effective strategy to protect the environment and public health.