DETERMINATION OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN CIGARETTE FILTER TAR BY MEANS OF HOLLOW-FIBER LIQUID PHASE MICROEXTRACTION-HPLC-UV SYSTEM

Abstract

A high-pressure liquid chromatographic method was developed to determine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in cigarette filter tar using hollow fiber-liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) for the clean-up and enrichment steps. The donor phase for HF-LPME is a mixture of acetonitrile and water. Before analyzing real cigarette samples, some preliminary experiments were necessary to find the optimum starting HF-LPME conditions, including donor phase composition (acetonitrile/water), pH, acceptor phase type, mixing rate, and extraction time. These experiments were performed with model PAH solutions. The chromatographic analysis of the acceptor solution was performed using a C18 reversed-phase column and a UV detector system. Under optimum conditions, percent recoveries and enrichment factors ranged from 63 to 97% and from 208 to 320, respectively, for model PAH solutions. The recoveries from real samples were between 8 and 71%, whereas the enrichment factors ranged from 27 to 234. The limit of detection (LOD) of the six PAHs was found to be between 0.040 and 0.136ngmL1. The concentrations of the six PAHs in real samples (various brands of cigarettes) were determined. The total amounts of PAHs (six) found in the filter tar of the three brands filter tar were 165.49, 50.49, and 51.04ng/cigarette, respectively.