Quantitation of flavor-related alkenylbenzenes in tobacco smoke particulate by selected ion monitoring gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Simultaneous Detection of Eight Prohibited Flavor Compounds in Foodstuffs Using Gas Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A multiflavor detection method, using gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), has been developed for the simultaneous identification and quantification of eight prohibited flavor compounds in daily foods. Under the optimized extraction conditions, samples were purified directly through membrane filtration. Variables affecting the GC-MS/MS were optimized to obtain better separation. The excellent selectivity and sensitivity achieved in multiple reactions monitoring mode allowed satisfactory confirmation and quantitation. In this study, the linear ranges of the target compounds were 0.05 to 500 ng/L with good correlation coefficients ( R² > 0.999). The limits of detection of target compounds ranged from 0.005 to 0.2 μg/kg. The average recoveries were in the range of 80.2 to 110.6% (beef jerky), 82.3 to 94.1% (cod liver oil), and 83.6 to 104.1% (candy).

Cigarette Design Features: Effects on Emission Levels, User Perception, and Behavior

Objectives

This paper describes the effects of non-tobacco, physical cigarette design features on smoke emissions, product appeal, and smoking behaviors - 3 factors that determine smoker's exposure and related health risks.

Methods

We reviewed available evidence for the impact of filter ventilation, new filter types, and cigarettes dimensions on toxic emissions, smoker's perceptions, and behavior. For evidence sources we used scientific literature and websites providing product characteristics and marketing information.

Results

Whereas filter ventilation results in lower machine-generated emissions, it also leads to perceptions of lighter taste and relative safety in smokers who can unwittingly employ more intense smoking behavior to obtain the desired amount of nicotine and sensory appeal. Filter additives that modify smoke emissions can also modify sensory cues, resulting in changes in smoking behavior. Flavor capsules increase the cigarette's appeal and novelty, and lead to misperceptions of reduced harm. Slim cigarettes have lower yields of some smoke emissions, but smoking behavior can be more intense than with standard cigarettes.

Conclusions

Physical design features significantly impact machine-measured emission yields in cigarette smoke, product appeal, smoking behaviors, and exposures in smokers. The influence of current and emerging design features is important in understanding the effectiveness of regulatory actions to reduce smoking-related harm.

Quantitation of Ten Flavor Compounds in Unburned Tobacco Products

Most research on unburned tobacco has focused on the harmful chemicals associated with the tobacco itself. However, certain flavor additives in tobacco products can pose additional health risks. Flavors like camphor, coumarin, pulegone, eugenol, methyl salicylate, menthol and diphenyl ether have exhibited biological activity and/or toxicity in both lab animals and humans. This publication presents a new GC/MS method for the quantitation of ten flavor compounds (eucalyptol, camphor, menthol, pulegone, ethyl salicylate, methyl salicylate, cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, diphenyl ether and coumarin) in a variety of tobacco products, including smokeless products and cigar filler. Excellent linearity (>0.997), accuracy (93.9% - 106.6%) and precision (C.V., 0.5% - 3.0%) were achieved for all flavor analytes measured. A summary of the concentrations of these flavors in selected international smokeless tobacco (SLT) products including zarda, quiwam, gutkha, and khaini varieties from Southeast Asia and snuff, clove cigarette filler and flavored cigar filler from the United States is reported. High concentrations of eugenol (2110 μg/g), coumarin (439 μg/g), camphor (1060 μg/g) and diphenyl ether (4840 μg/g) were found in selected products. Accurate identification and quantitation of potentially hazardous flavor compounds is important because they can exist in relatively high levels in some tobacco products, including international SLT products. We outline a versatile method which can be used to quantitate flavor compounds in multiple types of tobacco products.

Simultaneous determination of 23 flavor additives in tobacco products using gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

A method based on gas chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-QqQ MS/MS) was developed for the determination of 23 widely used flavor additives in tobacco products in this paper. The MS/MS fragmentation pathway of the cinnamic esters additives was illustrated. The new analytical method was defined based on two main axes, ultrasonic solvent extraction procedure with dichloromethane and analyte detection performed by GC-QqQ MS/MS in electron impact mode. The excellent selectivity and sensitivity achieved in multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode allowed satisfactory confirmation and quantitation for the tobacco flavor additives. The linear range of the 23 flavor additives is 0.2-500.0μg/L with good correlation coefficients (r(2)>0.9963). The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantitation (LOQs) of these compounds were in the range 0.1-2.0μg/L and 0.4-6.0μg/kg, respectively. The average recoveries at three spiked levels (LOQ, 2LOQ, 4LOQ) were all in the range 62.1-93.8% with RSDs (n=6) lower than 7.8%. The method of GC-QqQ MS/MS developed in this study was initially applied to the research of flavor additives in 12 retail cigarette samples and proved to be accurate, sensitive, convenient and practical.

Surveillance methods for identifying, characterizing, and monitoring tobacco products: potential reduced exposure products as an example

Tobacco products are widely sold and marketed, yet integrated data systems for identifying, tracking, and characterizing products are lacking. Tobacco manufacturers recently have developed potential reduced exposure products (PREP) with implied or explicit health claims. Currently, a systematic approach for identifying, defining, and evaluating PREPs sold at the local, state, or national levels in the United States has not been developed. Identifying, characterizing, and monitoring new tobacco products could be greatly enhanced with a responsive surveillance system. This article critically reviews available surveillance data sources for identifying and tracking tobacco products, including PREPs, evaluating strengths and weaknesses of potential data sources in light of their reliability and validity. With the absence of regulations mandating disclosure of product-specific information, it is likely that public health officials will need to rely on a variety of imperfect data sources to help identify, characterize, and monitor tobacco products, including PREPs.

Consumer acceptable risk: how cigarette companies have responded to accusations that their products are defective

OBJECTIVE

To describe arguments used by cigarette companies to defend themselves against charges that their cigarettes were defective and that they could and should have done more to make cigarettes less hazardous.

METHODS

The data for this paper come from the opening statements made by defendants in four court cases: two class action lawsuits (Engle 1999, and Blankenship 2001) and two individual cases (Boeken 2001, and Schwarz 2002). The transcripts of opening statements were reviewed and statements about product defect claims, product testing, and safe cigarette research were excerpted and coded.

RESULTS

Responses by cigarette companies to charges that their products were defective has been presented consistently across different cases and by different companies. Essentially the arguments made by cigarette companies boil down to three claims: (1) smoking is risky, but nothing the companies have done has made cigarettes more dangerous than might otherwise be the case; (2) nothing the companies have done or said has kept someone from stopping smoking; and (3) the companies have spent lots of money to make the safest cigarette acceptable to the smoker.

CONCLUSIONS

Cigarette companies have argued that their products are inherently dangerous but not defective, and that they have worked hard to make their products safer by lowering the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes as recommended by members of the public health community. As a counter argument, plaintiff attorneys should focus on how cigarette design changes have actually made smoking more acceptable to smokers, thereby discouraging smoking cessation.

Determination of eugenol, anethole, and coumarin in the mainstream cigarette smoke of Indonesian clove cigarettes

Indonesian clove cigarettes (kreteks), typically have the appearance of a conventional domestic cigarette. The unique aspects of kreteks are that in addition to tobacco they contain dried clove buds (15-40%, by wt.), and are flavored with a proprietary "sauce". Whereas the clove buds contribute to generating high levels of eugenol in the smoke, the "sauce" may also contribute other potentially harmful constituents in addition to those associated with tobacco use. We measured levels of eugenol, trans-anethole (anethole), and coumarin in smoke from 33 brands of clove-flavored cigarettes (filtered and unfiltered) from five kretek manufacturers. In order to provide information for evaluating the delivery of these compounds under standard smoking conditions, a quantification method was developed for their measurement in mainstream cigarette smoke. The method allowed collection of mainstream cigarette smoke particulate matter on a Cambridge filter pad, extraction with methanol, sampling by automated headspace solid-phase microextraction, and subsequent analysis using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The presence of these compounds was confirmed in the smoke of kreteks using mass spectral library matching, high-resolution mass spectrometry (+/-0.0002 amu), and agreement with a relative retention time index, and native standards. We found that when kreteks were smoked according to standardized machine smoke parameters as specified by the International Standards Organization, all 33 clove brands contained levels of eugenol ranging from 2,490 to 37,900 microg/cigarette (microg/cig). Anethole was detected in smoke from 13 brands at levels of 22.8-1,030 microg/cig, and coumarin was detected in 19 brands at levels ranging from 9.2 to 215 microg/cig. These detected levels are significantly higher than the levels found in commercial cigarette brands available in the United States.

Quantification of flavor-related compounds in the unburned contents of bidi and clove cigarettes

Bidi cigarettes, small hand-rolled cigarettes produced primarily in India, are sold in the United States in a wide variety of candy-like flavors (e.g. dewberry, chocolate, clove) and are popular with adolescents. Many flavored bidis contain high concentrations of compounds such as eugenol, anethole, methyleugenol, pulegone, and estragole; several of these compounds have known toxic or carcinogenic properties. Clove cigarettes, or kreteks, are another highly flavored tobacco product with high levels of eugenol due to clove buds present in the tobacco filler. In this study, compounds in the burnable portion-the filler and wrapper material actually consumed during the smoking of bidis, kreteks, and U.S. cigarettes-were analyzed. Flavor-related compounds were solvent extracted from the burnable portion of each cigarette with methanol. An aliquot of the methanol extract was heated, and the sample headspace was sampled with a solid-phase microextraction fiber and introduced into a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer for analysis in selected-ion monitoring mode. High levels of eugenol were detected in five clove-flavored bidi brands ranging from 78.6 to 7130 microg/cigarette (microg/cig), whereas diphenyl ether (128-3550 microg/cig) and methyl anthranilate (154-2360 microg/cig) were found in one grape-flavored bidi brand. A nontobacco herbal bidi brand contained the greatest variety of compounds, including anethole (489-665 microg/cig), eugenol (1670-2470 microg/cig), methyleugenol (27.7-36.6 microg/cig), safrole (32.4-34.4 microg/cig), myristicin (170-247 microg/cig), and elemicin (101-109 microg/cig). Filler from kreteks was found to contain high levels of eugenol, anethole, and coumarin. Flavored bidis and clove cigarettes contain a number of compounds that are present at levels far exceeding those reported in U.S. cigarette tobacco. Research is underway to determine the levels of these compounds delivered in smoke. It is not known what effect inhalation of these compounds has on smokers.

Application of headspace solid phase microextraction to qualitative and quantitative analysis of tobacco additives in cigarettes

Cigarettes may contain up to 10% by weight additives which are intended to make them more attractive. A fast and rugged method for a cigarette-screening for additives with medium volatility was developed using automatic headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) with a 65 microm carbowax-divinylbenzene fiber and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with standard electron impact ionisation. In three runs, each cigarette sample was extracted in closed headspace vials using basic, acidic and neutral medium containing 0.5 g NaCl or Na2SO4. Furthermore, the method was optimized for quantitative determination of 17 frequently occurring additives. The practical applicability of the method was demonstrated for cigarettes from 32 brands.

Simultaneous determination of cinnamaldehyde, eugenol and paeonol in traditional Chinese medicinal preparations by capillary GC-FID

A capillary GC method was established for simultaneous determination of cinnamaldehyde (CNMD), eugenol (EL) and paeonol (PL) in two traditional Chinese herbal medicinal preparations, Weitongding tablet (WTDT) and Guifu Dihuang pill (GDHP). The assays were based on a programmed temperature GC in a 30 m x 0.53 mm capillary column with nitrogen as carrier and FID detector. Good linearities were obtained over ranges of 0.45-452 mg/l CNMD, 0.31-625 mg/l EL and 0.30-610 mg/l PL, respectively. The spike recoveries were within 84-111%.

Concentrations of nine alkenylbenzenes, coumarin, piperonal and pulegone in Indian bidi cigarette tobacco

Indian-made bidi cigarettes sold in the United States are available in a variety of exotic (e.g. clove, mango) and candy-like (e.g. chocolate, raspberry) flavors. Because certain tobacco flavorings contain alkenylbenzenes and other toxic or carcinogenic chemicals, we measured the concentration of flavor-related compounds in bidi tobacco using a previously developed method. Twenty-three brands of bidis were sampled using automated headspace solid-phase microextraction and subsequently analyzed for 12 compounds by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Two alkenylbenzene compounds, trans-anethole and eugenol, were found in greater than 90% of the brands analyzed. Methyleugenol, pulegone and estragole were each detected in 30% or more of the brands, whereas safrole and elemicin were not detected in any of the brands. The flavor-related compounds with the highest tobacco concentrations were eugenol (12,000 microg/g tobacco) and trans-anethole (2200 microg/g tobacco). The highest eugenol and trans-anethole concentrations found in bidi tobacco were about 70,000 and 7500 times greater, respectively, than the highest levels previously found in US cigarette brands. Measurement of these compounds is crucial to evaluation of potential risks associated with inhaling highly concentrated flavor-related compounds from bidis or other tobacco products.

Current awareness

In order to keep subscribers up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, John Wiley & Sons are providing a current awareness service in each issue of the journal. The bibliography contains newly published material in the field of mass spectrometry. Each bibliography is divided into 11 sections: 1 Books, Reviews & Symposia; 2 Instrumental Techniques & Methods; 3 Gas Phase Ion Chemistry; 4 Biology/Biochemistry: Amino Acids, Peptides & Proteins; Carbohydrates; Lipids; Nucleic Acids; 5 Pharmacology/Toxicology; 6 Natural Products; 7 Analysis of Organic Compounds; 8 Analysis of Inorganics/Organometallics; 9 Surface Analysis; 10 Environmental Analysis; 11 Elemental Analysis. Within each section, articles are listed in alphabetical order with respect to author (6 Weeks journals - Search completed at 7th. June 2000)