Rapid Determination of Six Low Molecular Carbonyl Compounds in Tobacco Smoke by the APCI-MS/MS Coupled to Data Mining

Abstract

A simple method was established for the rapid determination of low molecular carbonyl compounds by the combination of atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry (APCI-MS/MS) and data mining. The ionization was carried out in positive mode, and six low molecular carbonyl compounds of acrolein, acetone, propionaldehyde, crotonaldehyde, butanone, and butyraldehyde were analyzed by both full scan mode and daughter scan mode. To overcome the quantitative difficulties from isomer of acetone/propionaldehyde and butanone/butyraldehyde, the quantitation procedure was performed with the characteristic ion of [CH3O]+ under CID energy of 5 and 15 eV. Subsequently, the established method was successfully applied to analysis of six low molecular carbonyl compounds in tobacco smoke with analytical period less than four minutes. The contents of acrolein, acetone, propionaldehyde, crotonaldehyde, butanone, and butyraldehyde for a cigarette were about 63 ± 5.8, 325 ± 82, 55 ± 9.7, 11 ± 1.4, 67 ± 5.9, and 12 ± 1.8 μg/cig, respectively. The experimental results indicated that the established method had the potential application in rapid determination of low molecular carbonyl compounds.

Comparative Analysis of Volatile Organic Compound Purification Techniques in Complex Cooking Emissions: Adsorption, Photocatalysis and Combined Systems

“…450 ppbv of the detected acetaldehyde, would be negligible. Another contribution to m/z = 45 could come from the ionization of butyraldehyde (m/z = 73) for the loss of the carbonyl group (m/z = 28) in the ionization and fragmentation process [33], but the phenomenon is appreciable only in the case of fish burgers because in the others butyraldehyde is not detected over the background. In addition, it causes a negligible effect since m/z = 73 is minor compared to m/z = 45, and the expected fragmentation is 1:1.…”