AHF NCI Collection
N-Nitrosamines in the Human Respiratory Environment I. A Method for the Determination of Traces of N-Nitrosamines
Abstract
Author: Report for the determination of N-nitrosamines in the environment which concludes that it must exclude the artificial formation of N-nitrosamines during sampling.
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- Type
- Bibliography
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- Scrt, Scientific Report
- List
- Keyword
- artificial formation
- carcinogens
- nitrosamines
- carcinogens
- Location
- cd 4
- Team
- nitrosamines
- Author
- Hoffmann, D.
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-?xD"N^Tr.L
N-NitrosGrair.es in the
Human Respiratory Environ=,ent
I. A::ethod -for the Le terraination
o~ Traces oi N-:vytrosu.lines
Dietrich Hoi"L:nunn, Ph.D.
Div. Environr.;e..tul -oxicoiocy
American Health Foundation
130 BGs t E::d :wer:ue
New York, N. Y. 10028

~ . I nt~ oauct~o::.
Exzensive laboratory studies throug:,out the world have
demonstrated that a large number of N-nitrosalnines (R,R1=X-ti0)
is mutagenic a:.d carcinogenic to the experimental animal (1, 2) .
However, at present we are lacking direct human evidence that
N-nitrosarain es are carcinogenic to man. Nevertheless, the
strong ca:: c: nogenicity of diethyl;.itrosa: ;ine to primates (3)
and the possi'aility that these agents are present in personal air
pollution (4,5), urban air pollution (6) , and in food (1,7),
make it ::,ost desirable to have a reproducible analytical method
a vailabl.e w:1ich perllitS t:.C,' C:eteri~i..atioa of. trace aIi,ou:.ts of
-9
t:.ese agents (ng=10 g) in the enviror.L;e7t. The published methods
permit only the detection of n~icroc.'.a~ls (10 g) of :v-nitros4.aines;
zurtherm ore, t:.ey are not rep-roGuci'ale and include N-nitrosamines,
which are fo'L'med G'lurl.n y coi.lectio:: by art:.fc'.cts (4,5,8,9) .
In general, carcinogenic ti-nitrosG:aines are not released
directly lalto the respiratory enviro:..;;cnt, bu:: are formed during
the burning of organic matter and are then released into the
environ.ment in the combustion products.
Basically, there are several possibilities for the forma-
tion of N-ni::rosamines with the followi:.g three mechanisms as
the most likely ones.
I
2kX R
R1=tia;-NO+N0
.2:R
:t1=N-I~O+:i
0 O
6
. ,
2 ,
~
2 1
-+
11 R
i21=N::+fiN0 rZ
N0+:
R1=ti-
0
. ,
2 ,,
,
2
, ~
iIi. Rl=tici+:211ON0
R ? N-\0R110'd
'
, O~

l:. all t.:re~3 caJtrJ, seco:.G~.r~1 c..~~:..:.e s~:..:.es (R,R1 =\.Y) rec.ci
i ei:.'r,er
with nitro,e n oxides (1), nitrous acid (I!),
or alkyl
i.ltrlteS (lII) . Although most natural products Whicll are burned
con -cain at least traces of secondary u.-ai:.es, they contain on ly
traces, if any, of N702 and R-ONO, since the burning zones of
organic matter are reducing atr;,osp:.eres, and the thermic activated
traces of \02 reac~ as scavengers with C,a-radicc.ls. In the
absence oL ~;02 ar.c: R-0N0, \-nitrosumi..es cannot be iorraec in
co.;iaustio:. :,.aterials . 'r:oweve-r, co.;i,custion products are ir,mediately
ailuted by air when t:.ey leave t'r.e co :.aus;:ion zone. This, then,
makes i;t likely t:.a;. part of the \0, wi:e:n i t leaves the area
elevGted tc~.i~pc~.rc.t.u::es, is O~:iGiZCG t0 ~02. T: ls N02 Ca:1
react d=rec::ly wit h'Nt7 a:.C secondary F,:.ii: C-s to i.-:7: i.rosa7'llnes (I)
U:.aged s.;.oke W: en it leaves t:.e :,.outh-_)iece of a cigarette
co:~tai:.s harGly any ~02. During puffing, however, t he smoke is
alreac,y cilutec with air w:.ic:z diffuses through t'r.e cigarette
paper. Since it takes about 5-10 minutes for the oxidation of
:.alf of the NO to \02, cirarette smoke increases significantly with
aging its potential to form Therefore, all methods
for t..e c,eterminatio n of N-nitrosamines in the envizon:nent must
exclude the artificial L ori:lat':io:1 of 'X-nitrosaaiiines Cauiiri, sc:.:~~pling.
II. Suggested N,e thod
The environmental ac}er.t which is most likely to contain
traces of X-nitroSGna111es is cigarette smoke (1, 4, 5). In order

- J -
to etic_uc.e t;ze arcificiul for :uticn of N-nitrosu~ir.es during
the trapping of the mai:,streara smoke, but nevertheless have the
potential to detect. r.anograrr:s of these agen;:s in personal pollu-
tion, we tentatively decided on the following procedure for
N-nitrosa;nines:
Cigarettes are smio;ced uncier standard eondit.ions with the
full automatic 20 channel Phipps & Bi:.a m:.chine (4, 10). The
mainstrean smoke is led throi;.gh two gas wash bottles filled with
2N NaOH. After the second puff is taken, the trapping system is
immediately purged with nitrogen for a few seconds. After 50
ciga-rettes are s::otied, di.i,et;:ylr.itrosa.;L:.rie-` `C is added as internal
standard to the NaOH solution. The la;."i,er is transferred into a
flask, acidified with ::C1, saturated with ~uC; and distilled
under rZdl:ceG pressure. The distillate is saturated w1.'i:h NaCl,
made alkaline with 2:: and distiiled under reduced pressure.
The distillate is extracted with et:.e-r, dried, and the solvent
is cautiously evuporated by d-ry-freezir.g. The residue is chromato-
graphed on alumina, the fractions wi th
-activity are co:«bined
and reduced with LiAl H 4 to :; nsy,,;e; ric hydrazines and reacted
with pentaflr.o-rop-ro2io nic anhydride ;2c?A).
, ~
(R, R1=N-\O ., pr o~) r_i, r`Z1=N-NH-C_CF2-Cc: J+Cr s-C~~2- C0O'ci )
_h20 0
These corapo:,ents with t he highly negative -CO-CF2-CF3 group can be
sepurated by gas c: romutog-rup .y. They induce a very high response
in an elec;.ron capture detector (detection limit 10-10 - 10-9 g). (1+;
This method.will be at first refined for volatile N-nitrosa- C
rines. It will be applied to the u na :ysis of mainstream a nd side- N
~
s..l^eG,1 s~i~o1CE9 of cigazei;i.es o.f apopula.: U.S. b1:.c:n4, ClguL'ottes ~
. ~
. ~

n: , , + J_ J_ -' 4. . ' J'i...
~. ~. g.1 ali . aloiG Co....E':.6., :a1C>i. i:. .
i~c.~.G c..Q
"1 f.
i0:'1 ln a1%c,ioid co:.:.c:.t, i0'a in niai:l?, a s Wa
1~.
~
as alk ai.oid co:.i;en'G. The .i.etllod Will be also a~ ~11eG fo:.' ..1C'e
analysis of polluted urbGn air.
III References
1. Magee, P.N. and Barnes, J.M.: Carcinogenic Nit::oso
Compounds. Cancer Res. 9: 163-246, 1966.
2. Druckrey, H., Preussmann, R., Ivankovic, S., and Sc .mC'-,';n1, D. :
Organotrope carcir.o5ene 1;ir:cu ngen bei 65 versc:ziec c nen
-N-~il.i:oSo-Vez.7ialdl::.gen an aD-Rc:.l:~.e:1. Z. :{rebsi=orsch, 69:
103-201, 1967.
3. 0' Gara, tZ. W. , and :Celly, M. G. : Induc tlo:i of lle?ato mas in.
monkeys given \-nitrosoaiet:.ylu.,,ir.e . Proc. Am. Assoc.
Cancer Res. 6: 50, 1965.
:4. Wynder, E.L., and Hoffmann, D.: "Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke.
Studies in Experimental Carcinoge:.esis." Academic Press,
1967, New York, 730 pp.
5. Neurat:., G.. Zur Frage des Vorko.--=ne:.s von \'-vitrosoverbind-
unge:z im Tabakraucn. Experientia 23: 400-404, 1967.
6. Ho: fra:.n, D. a..d k'ynder, E.L. : Cne:-nical Analysis and
Carcinogenic Bioassays of Orga nic Particula~%-..e :atter. In
"Air Pollution" 2nd Ed., Vol. 2, Ed. A.C. Stern, Academic
Press, New York, :1.Y., -1968, 187-247.
7. Hedler, L. and M.arr,uazdt, P. : Occurrence of dietl-.ylnitrosaminQ
in so;-,,e sa,72les of f6ood. Food Cos.r,et. Toxicol. 6: 341-343,
1968.

8. Ser~o::-cein, ti,;.J., and FAurt.er, P.. tiitrosanines as environ-
mental carcinogens. II. Evidence for the presence of
nitrosG:7ines in tobacco s:r,o{e condensate. Cancer Res. 26:
575-579, 1966.
9. Johnson, D.E., Millar, J.D., and Rhoades, J.W.: Nitrosamines
in tobacco smoke. Natl. Cancer Inst. ll:onogr. 28: 181-189,
1968.
10.. Pillsbury, H.C., 3right, C.C., O'Connor, fi.J., and Irish,
r. W. : Tar and nicotine in ci; srette sr;io::e. J. Assoc. Of.fic.
Agr. C:.erais~:.s 52: 453-462, 1969.
11. lric sudc,, Y. and ::oi-fimanri, D. . r. .uet.A:od f:or ~`.he detei::T:ina'i.1on
of pr=::ary a.u1.:.35 O-po1.j:.l:clec:.r a::o.i<<.t.lc hyG:.ocal'wti'ions.
J. Chro: G'-.rg. Sci. 7: 694-697, 1969.

V. Su=u;:y
A large number of N-nitrosamines are known as s;:ror.g
ca-rcinogens to the experimental animal including pri.:,ates.
Alt hough we are lacking human data which discril<<inF.',--e \-:.itrosa-
A11.nes as carcinog.ens to man, an analytical method is ui.CJeni.].1
neec:ed w:.y.ch peri l.ts t he C1L;aY:tii:ative C:eter:aination of ti-nl.trosa"
~
:aines i n trace amounts (i0-5) in the envirc.:.,e.:t. :he raet hod
a uSt exclude the artificial formation of \-:11trosc.:,lines during
A technique is proposed which should uieet i:hese two
essential reruirements. The technique will be at firs;: tested
for vola tl.le N-nitrosamines in i.',^.e mainstream a:.Cd side si:---eu;1
smoke of various types of cigarettes and in polluted urban air.
