A Trapping System for the Combined Determination of Total HCN and Total Gas Phase Aldehydes in Cigarette Smoke

A procedure for the combined determination of total HCN and total gas phase aldehydes in cigarette smoke has been developed which is practical to use for the analysis of relatively large cigarette samples. The smoking system includes a Cambridge pad for collection of the particulate phase and a small tube of silica gel to trap gas phase components, with 5 cigarettes being smoked through each pad and trap. Following smoking, the Cambridge pad and silica gel trap are extracted; the silica gel extract is used for the determination of total gas phase aldehydes and the combined extracts for HCN analysis. Colourimetric procedures, automated through use of the Technicon AutoAnalyser as described previously, are employed for the analysis of the sample extracts. Evaluation of this combined procedure indicates that it yields reliable results for both total HCN and total gas phase aldehydes with greater speed and ease of operation than provided by the previously described methods. The procedure has been applied to various cigarette samples with the relative standard deviation for a single port of 5 cigarettes ranging from 1.9 to 5.5 % for gas phase aldehydes and from 2.6 to 8.4 % for total HCN.