Development of a passive sampler for analysis of nicotine in non-smoking areas

Abstract

Passive cigarette smoking has been a concern owing to the harmful health risks it poses to humans. Nicotine is used as an indicator of tobacco smoke in the environment, to assess the effects of passive smoking. Passive samplers, which do not require a power source, are a low-cost method for collecting nicotine; however, they are affected by wind, resulting in low accuracy. We developed a passive sampler coupled with perforated covers to reduce the effects of wind on sampling. Because covering the collection surface would reduce the amount of nicotine collected by passive samplers, a highly sensitive nicotine analysis method using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed. Chamber tests were used to determine the optimal cover aperture ratio. Finally, we measured the nicotine concentrations indoors at 15 sites using active samplers. The nicotine concentration determined using the active samplers were compared to the amount of nicotine collected in the passive samplers, to estimate the sampling rate (SR; m3 min−1) of the passive samplers. The limit of quantitation for nicotine obtained using LC-MS/MS was 8.6 ng L−1, which was 0.0016–0.043 times those obtained using conventional methods. The optimal aperture of the membrane and the SR of the developed sampler were 1.8% and (1.17 ± 0.05) × 10−6 m3 min−1, respectively. The relative standard deviation of the developed sampler was 0.57 times those of the conventional samplers, indicating that the developed samplers have improved accuracy. The nicotine concentrations in the rooms ranged from <0.06–37 μg m−3. The samples with the lowest concentrations could not be quantified using conventional analytical methods. Thus, the proposed analytical method and passive sampler are promising tools for monitoring nicotine.