Simultaneous Analysis of Simple Coumarins and Furocoumarines in Cigarettes by Solid-Phase Extraction with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

J AOAC Int. 2017 Sep 1;100(5):1559-1564. doi: 10.5740/jaoacint.16-0192. Epub 2017 Apr 20.

Abstract

A sensitive, high-throughput analytical method based on a GC-MS method was established for the simultaneous quantitative determination of two categories of harmful coumarins: simple coumarins (coumarin, 6-methylcoumarin, 7-methoxycoumarin, 3,4-dihydrocoumarin, and 7-ethoxy-4-methylcoumarin) and furocoumarines (psoralen, 8-methoxypsoralen, 5-methoxypsoralen, and trioxysalen). The nine analytes were extracted with ethyl acetate, purified with Oasis HLB solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges, and identified and quantitatively determined by GC-MS in selected-ion monitoring mode. The LODs and LOQs of these compounds were in the ranges of 12.5-21.2 and 41.6-70.0 μg/kg, respectively. Average recoveries for the nine analytes ranged from 72.7 to 86.6% at LOQ, 1.5× LOQ, and 2× LOQ spike levels, with RSDs that were typically lower than 5.1%. The SPE-GC-MS method developed in this study was initially applied to research coumarins in cigarette samples; it proved to be accurate, sensitive, convenient, and practical.

MeSH terms

  • Coumarins / analysis*
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Solid Phase Extraction
  • Tobacco Products / analysis*

Substances

  • Coumarins
  • 6-methylcoumarin
  • 3,4-dihydrocoumarin