title: Determination of tobacco-specific nitrosamines in replacement liquids of electronic cigarettes by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method was described to detect tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) in replacement liquids of electronic cigarettes. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) were compared to each other to select the optimum clean-up method. Under the established condition, the limits of quantification of N'-nitrosonornicotine (NNN), 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), N'-nitrosoanabasine (NAB), and N'-nitrosoanatabine (NAT) were 0.06, 0.07, 0.06, and 0.04μg/L respectively, by using 0.5mL of replacement liquids, respectively, and the relative standard deviation was less than 10% at concentrations of 5.0 and 25.0μg/L. The concentrations of TSNAs were measured in concentration ranges of 0.34-60.08μg/L (64.8% detection frequency) for NNN, 0.22-9.84μg/L (88.6% detection frequency) for NNK, 0.11-11.11μg/L (54.3% detection frequency) for NNB, and 0.09-62.19μg/L (75.2% detection frequency) for NAT in 105 replacement liquid brands from 11 electronic cigarette companies purchased in the Korean market.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Kongju National University, Kongju 314-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Ji
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ho-Sang
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D055615:Electrical Equipment and Supplies; D016014:Linear Models; D009602:Nitrosamines / Q000032:analysis*; D019946:Propylene Glycol / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009602:Nitrosamines; D019946:Propylene Glycol