Simultaneous Determination of 1,2-Propylene Glycol,Glycerol and Triethylene Glycol in Smokeless Tobacco Products by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC/MS) method under selected i on monitoring(SIM) mode was developed for the simultaneous determination of 1, 2-propylene glycol,glycerol and triethylene glycol in smokeless tobacco produc t s(STPs) by using 1,4-butanediol as an internal standard.Thirty STP samples w e re parallel tested by GC/MS/SIM and GC/FID,a CORESTA recommended method,and th e results were compared.The results showed that: 1) The recoveries of 1,2-pro p ylene glycol,glycerol and triethylene glycol ranged from 89.3% to 100.3% with the limits of detection of 1.25 to 2.75 μg/g and RSDs of 1.16 % to 4.37%.2) Th e contents of 1,2-propylene glycol,glycerol,and triethylene glycol in the sa mp les ranged from 0.011 to 40.817,0.024 to 39.044,0.012 to 0.099 mg/g,respectiv ely.3) 1,2-propylene glycol in 13 samples and glycerol in 14 samples were det e cted,and their contents in 9 of the samples were accurately determinable,howev er,triethylene glycol was undetectable in all samples by GC/FID.4) 1,2-propy l ene glycol in 29 samples,glycerol in 28 samples and triethylene glycol in 21 sa mples were detected,their contents in 16,25 and 11 of the samples could be acc urately determined by GC/MS/SIM method,respectively.5) The Pearson correlation coefficients between the contents of 1,2-propylene glycol in 13 samples and g l ycerol in 9 samples determined by GC/FID and GC/MS/SIM were over 0.99 probable v alue less than significant level of 0.05 and paired test t value over significan t level of 0.05.It was concluded that the target analytes in the samples determ ined by GC/MS/SIM agreed with those by GC/FID,however,GC/MS/SIM method was mor e sensitive and accurate.GC/MS/SIM method is more suitable for the qualitative and quantitative determination of 1,2-propylene glycol,glycerol,and triethyl ene glycol in smokeless tobacco products.