Abstract
AbstractThird‐hand smoke (THS) can be defined as the contamination of surfaces by second‐hand smoke. This residue can form further pollutants which can be re‐suspended in dust or be re‐emitted into the gas phase. THS is a complex mixture and as a result studies have focused on nicotine as a marker of THS, it being the most abundant and indicative organic compound deposited. In this present study, the extraction of dust wipe samples and the subsequent chromatographic conditions required for the separation of nicotine by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection were investigated and optimised. The optimum chromatographic conditions were identified as a 150 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm C18 column with a mobile phase consisting of 65 % methanol, 35 % pH 8 20 mM phosphate buffer. Hydrodynamic voltammetry was used to optimise the applied potential which was identified to be +1.8 V (vs. stainless steel). Under these conditions, a linear range for nicotine of 13 to 3240 µg/L (0.26 ng–65 ng on column) was obtained, with a detection limit of 3.0 µg/L (0.06 ng on column) based on a signal‐to‐noise ratio of three. Dust wipe samples were extracted in methanol with the aid of sonication. Mean recoveries of 98.4 % (% CV=7.8 %) were found for dust wipe samples spiked with 6.50 µg of nicotine. Musk ketone, urea and stearic acid were found not to interfere. Communal entrance ways were found to be contaminated with THS nicotine levels of between 66.8 and 156 µg/m2.
Highlights
Nicotine (i) is a pyridine alkaloid found in several species of fungi and plants
The deposited nicotine can react with pollutants, such as nitrous acid and ozone to form toxic and potentially mutagenic and cytotoxic compounds known as tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) [7,8] which can be reemitted back into the environment by degassing or through movements of dust [6]
Nicotine has been determined in several different sample matrices such as toenails [22] and hair [23,24,25,26] utilising the liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (LC-ED) method developed by Mahoney and Al-Delaimy [27], to our knowledge, there have been no other reports on its determination by LC-ED
Summary
Nicotine (i) is a pyridine alkaloid found in several species of fungi and plants. The most common source of nicotine is the plant Nicotiana tabacum which is commercially grown in many countries and processed into tobacco which is either chewed or smoke to release the nicotine present. Nicotine has been determined in several different sample matrices such as toenails [22] and hair [23,24,25,26] utilising the liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (LC-ED) method developed by Mahoney and Al-Delaimy [27], to our knowledge, there have been no other reports on its determination by LC-ED. In the first part of this investigation we examined the electrochemical behaviour of nicotine by cyclic voltammetry, examining the effect of both scan rate and pH.
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