GC-MS Determination of Safrole and Coumarin in Tobacco Essence

A method of GC-MS in hyphenation was proposed to be used for simultaneous determination of safrole and coumarin in tobacco essence.The DB-1 MS capillary column was used as chromatographic column.Electron ionization (EI) was used as the ion source,and the characteristic ions of m/z 89,90,118,146 for coumarin and m/z 104,131,135,162 for safrole in the respective mass spectrum were selected in SIM mode of detection.Qualification of the essence was attained by the characteristic ions together with the respective retention time and also with the peak area ratio of chromatograms of abstracted ions.Quantification of the essence was attained by using the base peak of m/z 118 as the quantitative ion for coumarin,and of m/z 162 for safrole,as well as using the external standard method.Detection limits (3S/N) found for both the essence were same as 0.1 mg·kg-1.By taking the above mentioned measures in the detection and determination,interferences due to the complex matrixes were effectively eliminated,thus avoiding the possibility of false positive results.