Field analysis of acetaldehyde in mainstream tobacco smoke using solid-phase microextraction and a portable gas chromatograph

Acetaldehyde is generated in the mainstream tobacco smoke mainly from the pyrolysis (and oxidative pyrolysis) of carbohydrates that are present in tobacco plant, cigarette paper, and also used as additives in tobacco. Acetaldehyde has been classified as an animal carcinogen, and may be cytotoxic or genetoxic. Owing to its high volatility and reactivity, it is difficult to accurately measure it, especially on site. In this work, a novel analytical method based on collection and simultaneous derivatization in water, solid-phase microextraction (SPME), and portable gas chromatography (GC) analysis has been developed for the field and rapid analysis of acetaldehyde in the mainstream tobacco smoke. In the proposed method, acetaldehyde in mainstream tobacco smoke was collected in 1 ml water, and derivatizated with O-2,3,4,5,6-(pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine. The formed acetaldehyde oximes were headspace extracted by a divinylbenzene/carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fiber at 30 °C for 10 min, with a stirring rate of 1100 rpm. The acetaldehyde oximes extracted on the fiber were desorbed and analyzed rapidly by portable GC. The method validations including detection limit, recovery, precision and linearity were studied. It was found that the proposed method required the whole analysis time 27 min, and provided low detection limit of 0.04774 mg/ml, good recovery of 85%, RSD value 6.7%, and linear range 0.0716–0.7160 mg/ml (r2 = 0.997). The obtained results demonstrated that SPME-portable GC is a simple, rapid and solvent-free method for the field analysis of acetaldehyde. Finally, the proposed method was further applied to the quantification of acetaldehyde in mainstream tobacco smoke of five different brands.