Determination of cembrenediols in tobacco by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry-selected ion monitoring with precolumn derivatization

Abstract

An efficient and sensitive analytical method based on precolumn derivatization and gas chromatography—mass spectrometry—selected ion monitoring (GC—MS—SIM) was proposed and validated for analysis of two cembrenediols (CBDs) which are α-cembrenediol and β-cembrenediol in tobacco samples. CBDs in tobacco samples were extracted by sonication with 50 mL dichloromethane for 10 min before derivatized with 2:3 (v/v) bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA)—pyridine at 20 °C for 100 min. CBDs’ level in tobacco samples was analyzed by GC—MS—SIM and quantified by the internal standard method. The linear range for α-CBD and β-CBD was 13.6–554.6 μg mL−1 and 4.11–162.6 μg mL−1, and the correlation coefficients of both were 0.9998. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of α-cembrenediol and β-cembrenediol were 0.40 μg g−1 and 1.34 μg g−1, and 0.27 μg g−1 and 0.90 μg g−1, respectively. Average recoveries of α-CBD and β-CBD were 94.4–99.9% and 91.9–98.2% while the relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 5) were ranged from 2.67 to 5.6% and 2.04 to 4.22%, respectively. This proposed analytical method has been successfully applied to analyze CBDs in tobacco samples.