An improved headspace solid-phase microextraction method for the analysis of free-base nicotine in particulate phase of mainstream cigarette smoke

The content of free-base nicotine in cigarette smoke is a controversial subject, partly due to methodological issues. In this investigation, an improved method to measure free-base nicotine in cigarette smoke using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with GC/MS analysis, was developed and validated for this purpose. Cigarette smoke particulate phase (PP) was collected onto a 44 mm glass fiber filter pad. The pad was cut in halves with one half used to determine the concentrations of total nicotine and water. The remaining half was analyzed by HS-SPME for free-base nicotine. The following factors were found to have a significant impact on the responses of free-base nicotine: SPME fiber type, pre-equilibrium time before HS-SPME, extraction time and temperature, PP water content, and the solvent used for the preparation of standards. It was also found that the impact of PP water content on the determination of free-base nicotine from smoke sample could be corrected by a water correction factor calculated based on an experimentally determined reciprocal model. The precision of the method was evaluated with smoke samples of reference cigarettes: Canadian flue-cured monitor and Kentucky reference 2R4F. The RSD values obtained were in the 12.8–16.8% range.