Parent, Alkylated, and Sulfur/Oxygen-Containing Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Mainstream Smoke from 13 Brands of Chinese Cigarettes

Abstract

China has the world's largest population of smokers with serious health consequences, yet we know a very limited spectrum of hazardous chemicals in cigarette smoke even for carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Here, we chose 13 popular cigarette brands sold in China markets, collected particulate matters in mainstream smoke using filter pads and an automatic smoking machine, and analyzed 56 PAHs, including 31 parent, 18 alkylated, and 7 sulfur/oxygen-containing PAHs (S/O PAHs). The 56 PAHs in mainstream smoke totaled from 244.2 ± 28.5 to 10254.8 ± 481.5 ng cig −1 ; parent, alkylated, and S/O PAHs shared 16−23%, 64−74%, and 6−18%, respectively. Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) ranged 1.1−41.6 ng cig −1 , while BaP equivalent concentrations (BaP eq ) ranged 3.6− 120.2 ng cig −1 , but contributions to BaP eq by individual carcinogenic PAH species varied with cigarette brands. When these cigarette smoke source profiles were pooled together with those of other combustion ones available in the literature, we found that widely used diagnostic ratios of parent PAHs failed to distinguish cigarette smoke from other combustion sources, except that the ratio indeno [1,2,3-cd]pyrene/(indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene + benzo[g,h,i]perylene) can largely separate cigarette smoke from vehicular emissions and that the ratio of Retene/(Retene + chrysene) can further discriminate cigarette smoke from coal combustion when alkylated PAHs are involved.

Polyurethane Foam Face Masks as a Dosimeter for Quantifying Personal Exposure to Airborne Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds

“…The summed concentrations of these compounds were generally higher in domestic indoor environments than in public areas, which were mostly attributed to the high levels of naphthalene in domestic households. It is also worth mentioning that naphthalene was detected as the most abundant PAH in all the sampling environments and was likely released from a variety of sources including vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, domestic cooking, mothballs, pest repellants, and so forth. − Naphthalene is classified as a Group 2B carcinogen by International Agency of Research on Cancer, and exposure to high levels of naphthalene may cause hemolysis, skin and eye irritation, and neurologic symptoms. ,, As the concentrations of naphthalene were significantly higher in domestic homes using mothballs and exceeded the long-term guideline value (10 μg/m 3 ) recommended by World Health Organization, the significant influence of naphthalene on indoor air quality should not be overlooked. High levels of phthalate esters were detected in the department store and hair salon locations and were most likely released from vinyl, cosmetic, and personal care products, which have been previously observed in occupational exposure studies of hair salon and perfume and cosmetic store environments. , …”

Characteristics of Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals in PM2.5 and the Influence of Air Pollutants in Shihezi, Northwestern China

“…The toxicity of PAHs is generally assessed by the equivalent concentration of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). The carcinogenic potency of general commercial cigarettes was assessed using BaP-equivalent concentrations in [ 27 ], and the mean BaP-equivalent concentration of commercial cigarettes was 71.7 ng/cig. To assess the potential health risks posed by PAHs and EPFRs in PM 2.5 , the same numbers of cigarettes were used to represent the PAH exposure per person per day.…”

Indexes of tobacco smoke contribution to environmental particulates based on molecular fingerprints of alkanes

“…Therefore, the first investigations were focused on TS macro-components (e.g., organic and elemental carbon, NOx, volatile hydrocarbons, and tar) (Benner et al 1989 ; Eatough et al 1990 ; Nelson et al 1997 , 1998 ; Baek and Jenkins 2004 ; Bi et al 2005 ; Polzin et al 2007 ; Moir et al 2008 ; Pandey and Kim 2010 ; Uchiyama et al 2018 ). Hundreds of micro-components have been identified in TS, including metals, alkanes, carbonyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aza-heterocyclics, and organic acids and bases (Schmeltz and Hoffmann 1977 ; Eatough et al 1989 ; Leaderer and Hammond 1991 ; Rogge et al 1994 ; Gundel et al 1995 ; Singer et al 2002 ; Ding et al 2006 ; Charles et al 2008 ; Lauterbach et al 2010 ; Gao et al 2015 ; Whitehead et al 2015 ; Edwards et al 2017 ; Ishizaki and Kataoka 2019 ).…”