Determination of Benzo(a)pyrene in Mainstream Cigarette Smoke by GC-QqQ-MS/MS

A GC-QqQ-MS/MS method for the analysis of benzo(a)pyrene in mainstream cigarette smoke was demonstrated. The total particulate matter (TPM) of 20 cigarettes in mainstream smoke were trapped by cambridge filter pad under standard smoking condition and extracted by cyclohexane with internal standard (ISTD). The solution was analyzed by GC-QqQ-MS/MS with positive ESI under multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode after being cleaned upon solid phase extraction and determined by ISTD method under the optimized conditions. The calibration curves show good linearity for benzo(a)pyrene in the concentration ranges of 0.4—20 μg/cig and the correlation coefficient is 0.999 92. The LOQ is 0.073 μg/L, the largest repeatability coefficient of variation is 3.71%, and the standard recovery rates are 95.7%—103.9%. Ease of operation, shorter procedure and little solvent make it suitable for benzo(a)pyrene determination, especially for low tar cigarettes.