title: Microwave-assisted silylation followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for rapid determination of ergosterol in cigarettes.
abstract: Ergosterol is one of the important precursors of tumorigenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. To the best of our knowledge, a large amount of ergosterol is present in moldy cigarettes, which derives from fungal contaminations. Thus, the development of a simple, fast, and efficient method for the analysis of ergosterol is in great demand. In this paper, GC/MS following microwave-assisted silylation (MAS) was developed for the rapid quantitative analysis of ergosterol in cigarettes for the first time. In our work, total ergosterol in cigarettes after NaOH saponification was extracted with hexane, and then was fast derivatized with bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) under microwave irradiation. Finally, the ergosterol trimethylsilyl derivative was analyzed by GC/MS. Derivatization conditions including microwave reaction solvent, irradiation time, and power were investigated. Method validations (linear range, LOD, precision, and recovery) were also studied. The results showed that the proposed method provided a fast, simple, and sensitive approach for the determination of ergosterol in cigarettes. Finally it was successfully applied to the analysis of ergosterol in normal and mildewy cigarettes.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Tobacco (Group) Corporation Technical Center, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yunfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sha
authors.forename: Chunhui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Haobo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wenyan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Baizhan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D004875:Ergosterol / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008872:Microwaves; D012907:Smoking; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000737:chemistry*; D014297:Trimethylsilyl Compounds
chemical_list: D014297:Trimethylsilyl Compounds; D004875:Ergosterol