Simultaneous Analysis of 16 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Cigarette Smoke Based on Matrix Solvent Correction Combined with High-Temperature Ion Source GC-MS/MS

An improved method was developed for the detection of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in mainstream cigarette smoke during combustion. The methodological approach involved matrix matching standard solution preparation, direct injection of the extraction solution, and measurement of standard linearity curves to quantitatively analyze the release of target compounds. Considering the diverse physical and chemical properties as well as distribution patterns of the 16 PAHs in cigarette smoke, the impact of room temperature and high-temperature ion sources on the response of target compounds was investigated. Additionally, the preparation methods of matrix solvents and the matrix effects on the quantitative results of target compounds were also explored. Furthermore, a systematic study was conducted on the smoke release distribution of commercially available cigarettes with different circumferences. The results demonstrated that direct injection of sample extract eliminates the need for sample purification, concentration, and other processing steps employed in current detection methods. This simplifies sample pretreatment procedures while reducing organic solvent usage and consumables consumption. Moreover, it resolves issues related to low operational efficiency when dealing with large quantities of samples. The use of matrix solvent to prepare standard solution effectively reduces the influence of matrix effect, and solves the technical problem of low recovery of target substance in flue gas caused by no purification treatment when using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) to analyze 16 kinds of PAHs. Under the normal working parameters of the instrument, the electron impact ion source (EI) was used under high temperature to improve the ionization efficiency of the targets in complex matrix and to ensure the accurate analysis of targets with low concentrations. The correlation coefficients (R²) of the calibration curves for 16 PAHs are 0.996 4-0.999 8, the limits of dectection and the limits of quantification are 0.29-1.48, 0.95-4.94 ng/cigarette, respectively. Under different concentration levels, the average recovery is 87.71%-123.26%, and the precision is within 1.58%-9.45%. By analyzing the reference cigarette 3R4F, there is no significant difference between this method and those reported in the literature. The total amount of PAHs released from 58 brands of cigarette samples are 742.76-1 505.99 ng/cigarette. At the same time, with the decrease of tar content in cigarette, the release of PAHs will be reduced accordingly. This method is simple, practical, stable, and accurate, providing more technical means for the detection of trace PAHs in cigarette smoke.