A rapid and selective method for simultaneous determination of six toxic phenolic compounds in mainstream cigarette smoke using single-drop microextraction followed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Cigarette smoke contains several toxic phenolic compounds, measurements of which are essential from a public health standpoint. This article describes a simple and selective analytical method for quantitative determination of six toxic phenolic compounds (phenol, catechol, resorcinol, hydroquinone, o-cresol, and p-cresol) from mainstream cigarette smoke using single-drop microextraction in combination with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Single-drop microextraction was applied prior to analysis by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the extraction and preconcentration of target phenolic compounds from raw cigarette smoke extract. The effects of the extraction solvent, sampling time, solution pH, salt addition, sample agitation rate, and temperature on the extraction efficiency were examined and optimized. The identification of each analyte was established by chromatographic retention times, analyte-specific fragmentation patterns, and relative peak area ratios of two product/precursor ion pairs. Analytical parameters such as the detection limit, relative recovery, reproducibility, linearity, and enrichment factor were evaluated under the optimized experimental conditions. 1-Decanol was selected as the extraction solvent and the limits of detection were found to be in the range of 0.05-0.3 ng mL(-1) using an extraction time of 12 min. Gradient chromatographic conditions were optimized for the separation of the six phenolic compounds in a run time of 10 min including reequilibration of the column. The present method for determination of phenolic compounds from mainstream cigarette smoke is simple and specific and shows good reproducibility, with relative standard deviations less than 10% for all targeted phenolics.