gHK DETERMINATION OP COUMARIN 301 TOBACCO AND ...

Vith reft ace to Table I the control cigr rites (made to Park
Drive specifications using Blend }2 with \. added flavour) appear
to have a residual coumarin level of 4*4 ± 3*4 ug/cig. A coumarin
analysis on the smoke of 25 control cigarettes yielded the result
shown in Table V, -
TABLE V COUMARIN CONTENT OF
(v) RECOVERY
CONTROL CIGARETTES
COUMARIN IN
TOBACCO
(w/oig)
4.4
COUMARIN IN
SMOKE
fag/cig)
Coumarin recovery is greater than 95&
(vi) DETECTION LIMIT
The lower limit for detection of coumarin by this method is
1-2 pg/cig« in the smoke which corresponds to a coumarin
level in tobacco of approximately 5pg/cigarette.
The measured coumarin content at low levels will be Bubject to
interference from impurities (see Table V and Discussion).
DISCUSSION
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/iyl97h00/pdf
(i)* The principal assumption made in using this method to measure
coumarin is that there are no other compounds with the same
retention time as coumarin in the final GO analysis* Comparison
of the results in Tables III and IV shows that extraneous compounds
contributing to the coumarin peak on the GC after one column
chromatography step have been removed by the second column* This
was observed experimentally by collecting fractions from the second
column and testing for coumarin by gas chromatography* The
coumarin comes through in the 50-75^1 fraction (by comparison with
a standard coumarin solution passed through the column) while
impurities with tbie same retention time as coumarin are contained
in the first 50ml~'from the column,
*
(ii) When the smoke from 25 control cigarettes containing no added
coumarin but with an apparent coumarin level of 4.4 + 3.4 Pfi/cig,
is analysed a coumarin (?) level of 1*3pg/cig. is obtained after
a two-stage clean-up. Allowances for this background peak can
be made in two ways a) if the background peak is coumarin the
measured value of tyig/cig. in the smoke of normal Park Drive
cigarettes comprises 2.7 )ig/cig. from the coumarin added in the
flavouring process and '\*5yg/cig, from the coumarin present in .
Blend 32* b) if the peak in the control sample is not coumarin
but a compound with the same retention time, the coumarin level
in Park Drive smoke is