A Simple Sampling Method for Quantification of Hazardous Volatile Organic Compounds in Mainstream Cigarette Smoke: Method Development and Prestudy Validation

Cigarette smoke can be fatal to human health, as it contains a plethora of hazardous compounds such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). To assess the toxic effects of cigarette smoke, both qualitative and quantitative information about the VOCs in cigarette smoke are essential. However, sampling and analysis of cigarette smoke are not simple tasks and require complicated validation procedures. Here, we develop and verify a simple sampling method for the quantification of VOCs in mainstream cigarette smoke using three steps: direct collection of the mainstream cigarette smoke sample by gas-tight syringe, injection of the sample into a bag sampler for dilution, and extraction of VOCs into an adsorption-tube sampler for quantitation by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. This method has been employed successfully to quantify seven target VOCs (isoprene, methyl ethyl ketone, benzene, acrylonitrile, toluene, m-xylene, and styrene) in cigarette smoke from 3R4F reference cigarettes. The quantities of these major five VOCs (isoprene, methyl ethyl ketone, benzene, acrylonitrile, and toluene: average of 459 +/- 646 ng mL(-1)), when measured from 3R4F samples based on our method, were comparable to or moderately higher than those measured based on the established standard methods (e.g., Health Canada Intense (462 +/- 557 ng mL(-1)) and International Standardization Organization (356 +/- 438 ng mL(-1))). As such, we succeeded in reliably collecting and quantifying VOCs in cigarette smoke using a simple sampling method proposed in this research. The proposed method is thus recommended as an alternative to complicated and costly representative methods based on international guidelines.