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The chemical composition of mainstream smoke from an electrically heated cigarette (EHC) and that of mainstream smoke from the University of Kentucky Reference Cigarette 1R4F was analyzed. In contrast to the 1R4F, which is a conventional, lit-end cigarette, the EHC is smoked in a microprocessor-controlled lighter with electrical heater elements. The electrical heating causes the tobacco under the heater element to burn at a low temperature during each puff. A comprehensive list of chemical constituents was analyzed in mainstream smoke. The list is a combination of those compounds suggested for analysis in cigarette smoke by a US Consumer Product Safety Commission proposal in 1993, and those cigarette smoke constituents identified by the International Agency on Research on Cancer as being present in cigarette smoke and characterized as carcinogens. The low pyrolysis/combustion temperature of tobacco in the EHC causes distinct shifts in the composition of the smoke compared with a conventional cigarette. A significant drop was seen in the yields of almost all toxicologically relevant constituents. On a per cigarette basis almost two-thirds of the constituents were reduced by at least 80%, whereas on an equal total particulate matter basis about two-thirds of the constituents were reduced by at least 50%, with many constituents reduced by more than 90%.

A method for the analysis of o-toluidine, o-anisidine, 2-naphthylamine, and 4-aminobiphenyl in cigarette mainstream smoke has been developed, which combines the sensitivity of their pentafluoropropionyl (PFP) derivatives in negative ion chemical ionization (NICI) mode with the selectivity of the gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) technique. The use of four deuterated analogues as internal standards along with the application of the standard addition method results in accurate and precise results; the interday precision for the aromatic amines was 3-10% and the accuracy ranged from 97-100%. This method was applied to two American-blend University of Kentucky reference cigarettes, eight American-blend market cigarettes, a bright (fluecured) tobacco cigarette, and an electrically heated cigarette smoking system (EHCSS). For the American-blend cigarettes there was a linear correlation between aromatic amine yields and mainstream smoke 'tar' ('tar' ¼ total particulate matter À (nicotine þ water)), whereas the bright tobacco cigarette and the EHCSS demonstrated significantly lower aromatic amine yields on an equal 'tar' basis. The results support the hypothesis that the nitrogen content of the tobacco, and above all the cigarette combustion temperature, are determining factors for the yields of aromatic amines in smoke.

The paper reports levels of 24-h urine nicotine and five of its major metabolites (expressed as nicotine-equivalents) and blood carboxyhaemoglobin as biomarkers of exposure to particulate- and gas-phase cigarette smoke, respectively, from an exploratory pilot study of adult smokers of 3.0-6.9 mg tar delivery (Federal Trade Commission (FTC) method) cigarettes. On multiple occasions over 6 weeks, blood high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fibrinogen, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol, and 24-h urine 8-epi-prostaglandin F2alpha (8-epi-PGF2alpha) and 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (11-dehydro-TxB2) were also evaluated as biomarkers of potential harm. All the biomarkers examined, except for LDL-cholesterol, discriminated with high sensitivity and specificity between adult smokers and non-smokers overall. Except for HDL-cholesterol, all biomarker medians were greater in adult smokers than in non-smokers: urine nicotine-equivalents 64.514 versus < 0.034 nmol mg-1 creatinine (p<0.001), carboxyhaemoglobin 4.0 versus 0.4% saturation (p<0.001), hs-CRP 0.27 versus 0.12 mg dl-1 (p=0.05), fibrinogen 292 versus 248 mg dl-1 (p<0.001), HDL-cholesterol 46 versus 53 mg dl-1 (p=0.003), LDL-cholesterol 119 versus 109 mg dl-1 (p=0.18), urine 8-epi-PGF2alpha 1935 versus 1034 pg mg-1 creatinine (p<0.001) and urine 11-dehydro-TxB2 973 versus 710 pg mg-1 creatinine (p<0.001). All the biomarkers of exposure and most of the biomarkers of potential harm showed no time of sampling (by visit week) effect.