Determination of Nicotine Contents in Local and Imported Cigarettes Smoke in Yemeni Markets Using Gas Chromatography Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID)

Abstract

Currently, the number of consumers of tobacco products in the world is growing rapidly. In this regard, the number of tobacco companies and varieties is increasing. Many tobacco companies write a small amount of the ingredients found in a cigarette on the product package. This study aimed to determine the nicotine contents in different brands of cigarette smoke. The paper presents the results of the quantitative determination of nicotine in cigarette smoke samples through the practical application of a validated GC-FID method. The isolation of nicotine was performed by extraction with propanol. The GC-FID and method validation was performed through the parameters: linearity, precision, limits of detection (LOD), and quantification (LOQ). The correlation coefficient was 0.9998 over the nicotine standard range (5 to 500 ppm). The relative standard deviation (%RSD) ranged from 0.71 to 6.67 % and the obtained LOD and LOQ were 0.0926 and 0. 2777 ppm, respectively. For method validation, the correlation coefficient was 0.9987 over the spiked nicotine cigarette range (0.1 to 1.0 mg/cig.). The relative standard deviation (%RSD) ranged from 0.71 to 6.67% and the obtained LOD and LOQ were 0.1056 and 0.3166 ppm, respectively, which is much lower than the accepted value of 0.6 mg/cigarette according to the reference standards based on the results obtained from this work. The content of nicotine from 87 tobacco cigarettes samples was determined. For the local 19 of 21 and imported 45 of 66 tobacco samples exceeded the permitted limit, the variation limits of the nicotine content were more restricted (0.512-1.564 and 0.640-2.415 mg/cig.), respectively