Nanorod coordination polymers for needle trap extraction of E-cigarettes and cigarettes smoke

Abstract

Nowadays, the issue of e-cigarettes gaining popularity among never-smokers and teenagers, thus becoming an emergent public health problem. Consequently, developing methods to monitor the toxic compounds in their smoke is a lucrative object. Herein, two coordination polymers (CPs) with nanorod and microsphere morphology are proposed as extractive phases in a needle trap device (NTD). The two synthesized CPs were characterized by FT-IR, SEM, BET, EDS, XPS and TGA. The extraction efficiency of two synthesized CPs was compared for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and as a result, the nanorods exhibited higher extraction and desorption efficiency. The prepared NTD filled with the nanorod CP was implemented to the analysis of cigarettes and e-cigarette smoke. All the influencing parameters on PAHs analysis and gas chromatography (GC) procedure were investigated and optimized. The CP with nanorod morphology was applied to develop an NTD–GC–MS method for quantification of PAHs, as model analytes in the cigarettes and e-cigarettes smoke. The prominent extractive–phase was found to be very sensitive for the determination of PAHs with reliable figures of merit, such as acceptable linearity (0.2–750 ng/L), low limits of detection (LODs), 0.05–5 ng/L, suitable intra–day and inter–day relative standard deviations (RSD% <12 %), and long lifespan (number of uses >100 times).