Determination of Alkaloids in Mainstreams of Cigarette Smoke by GC-MS

GC/MS was applied to the determination of 5 alkaloids, including nicotine, nornicotine, myosmine, anabasine and anatabine, in mainstreams of cigarette smoke. The total particulates in the smoke were collected on cambridge filter pad, and after addition of internal standard, the filter pad was treated with 50 g·L-1 NaOH solution to liberate the alkaloids. The solution was then extracted with ethyl acetate and a separation was made on DB-35MS column. SIM was adopted in MS. Linear relationships were found between values of peak areas and concentrations of the 5 alkaloids in definite ranges. Values of detection limits (3S/N) found for nicotine was 12 μg·cig-1, and for the other 4 alkaloids were in the range of 0.30-2.5 μg·cig-1. Values of recovery found by standard addition method were in the range of 86.5%-108%, and RSD′s (n=6) in the range of 1.7%-4.5%.