Introduction: Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) represent an important class of carcinogens in mainstream cigarette smoke. Accurate HAA quantification is challenging because of their relative low abundances and numerous chemical interferences that arise naturally from thousands of the constituents present in cigarette smoke. We have developed and validated a straightforward high-throughput method to quantify HAA levels in mainstream cigarette smoke and demonstrated the applicability by analyzing select research and domestic cigarette brands.
Methods: Machine-smoked cigarette condensate collected under both standard and intensive smoking regimens was examined. Mainstream smoke particulate from individual cigarettes trapped on a glass fiber filter pad was spiked with an appropriate internal standard solution and subsequently solvent extracted. The extract was quantitatively analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry.
Results: Method validation data showed excellent accuracy, reproducibility and high throughput; it is suitable for the routine analysis of HAAs in cigarette smoke condensate delivered under a wide of differing smoking conditions. The smoking machine deliveries of HAAs are strongly influenced by cigarettes' physical design, filler blend, and smoking regimen.
Conclusions: A quick and accurate method has been developed for the analysis of 6 HAAs in mainstream cigarette smoke condensate. Results provided a good mean to access the ranges of HAAs in commercial products and evaluate the relative contribution of cigarette design, filler blend, and smoking regimen on delivery. Such data are vital in helping provide exposure ranges for potential human exposure estimates.