Application of direct atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry for on-line analysis of gas phase of cigarette mainstream smoke

•A novel direct APCI–MS/MS method has been developed for on-line analysis of MSS.•Smoking procedure was carried out using a modified commercial smoking machine.•The APCI source was modified to allow the direct introduction of MSS samples.•The developed method could achieve on-line analysis of puff-by-puff MSS.•Advantages of the method: simplicity, high speed, good sensitivity and repeatability.

In order to determine the chemical pollutants in cigarette smoke which might possess potential risks to human health and environment, a method coupling smoking machine to atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry (APCI–MS/MS) was developed and applied to on-line analysis of cigarette mainstream smoke. The commercial smoking machine and the ion source of APCI–MS/MS were modified in order to achieve on-line analysis of single puff or puff-by-puff cigarette mainstream smoke. The technique is based on the direct introduction of cigarette smoke into the APCI source via an atmospheric pressure inlet. Four hazardous volatile organic compounds (acrylonitrile, crotonaldehyde, benzene and toluene) were selected for qualitative and quantitative analyses. The results showed that the calibration curves of the four compounds exhibited good linear relations (R2 > 0.99) with the limits of detection from 0.19 to 2.05 ng mL−1 and the relative standard deviation from 3.41% to 8.72%. The developed method is simple, fast, sensitive and repeatable; furthermore, it could provide an alternative way for the determination of a variety of hazardous compounds and for the investigation of the contribution of the cigarette smoke to the pollution of the environment.

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