Determination of Toxic Metals in Little Cigar Tobacco with Triple Quad ICP-MS

摘要

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Much of the focus on harmful constituents (HPHCs) in tobacco products has been on cigarettes. Little cigars have gained popularity over the last decade as tobacco taxes made cigarettes more expensive in the U.S. Many little cigar brands are similar in size with cigarettes and may be smoked in a similar manner.Scant data are available on HPHC levels in little cigars, therefore we developed and applied a new analytical method to determine concentrations of ten toxic metals in little cigar tobacco. The method utilizes “triple quadrupole” ICP-MS. By optimizing octapole bias, energy discrimination, and cell gas flow settings, we were able to accurately quantify a range of elements including those for which the cell gas reactions were endothermic. All standard modes (Single Quad No Gas, MS/MS NH3/He, and MS/MS O2) were utilized for the quantitation of ten toxic metals in little cigar tobacco, including uranium, which was added as an analyte in the new method.Because of the elimination of interfering ions at “shifted analyte masses,” detection limits were lower compared to a previous method. Tobacco selenium concentrations were below the limit of detection in the previous method, but the new technology made it possible to report all selenium concentrations.