Analysis of constituents present in smokeless tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) using spectroscopic techniques

Abstract

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is an analytical technique used to identify and quantify the elements present in any type of material present in any phase (solid, liquid, gas, and aerosol). In the present work, our objective is to find the presence of toxic and other elements in chewing tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum ) using LIBS. Spectral signatures of elements like C, Fe, Si, Mg, Mn, Ca, Ti, Na, H, N, K, O, along with some toxic elements Al, Sr, Li, Cu, Sb, and Cr are observed in the LIBS spectra of these tobacco samples. The spectral intensity ratio is measured for quantitative analysis of elements present in the samples. Further, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy is used for determining absolute concentration in these samples. A relation between the AAS result and the relative intensity of spectral lines measured in the LIBS is obtained using regression analysis. The multivariate technique, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), discriminates all the samples based on their toxicity and other constituents. Molecular study (Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS), UV-Visible (UV–vis), and FT-IR) of tobacco samples were performed to analyze the molecules present in the tobacco samples.