AHF NCI Collection
Chemical Studies on Tobacco Smoke Lxvi. Comparative Assessment of Volatile and Tobacco-Specific N-Nitrosamines in the Smoke of Selected Cigarettes From the U.S.A., West Germany and France.1
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- Type
- Bibliography
- Chart/Graph
- Scrt, Scientific Report
- Named Organization
- FDA, Food and Drug Administration
- NCI, Natl Cancer Inst
- Author
- Adams, J.D.
- Hoffmann, D.
- Ruhl, C.
- Named Person
- Fazio, T.
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CHEMICAL STUDIES ON TOBACCO SMOKE LXVI.
COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF VOLATILE AND TOBACCO-SPECIFIC
N-NITROSAMINES IN THE SMOKE OF SELECTED CIGARETTES FROM
THE U.S.A., WEST GERMANY AND FRANCE.l
Christian Ruhl
Abteilung f{ir Toxikologie, Max-von-Pettenkofer Institut,
Bundesgesundheitsamt, Berlin, F.R.G.
John D. Adams and Dietrich Hoffmann
Naylor Dana Institute forDisease Prevention
American Health Foundation
Valhalla, New York 10595
U.S.A.
1This study was supported by NCI Contract No. 1-CP-55666 and
by the Federal Ministry for Youth, Family & Health of the
Federal Republic of Germany.

Abstract.
Studies on the variations of biologically important
smoke constituents of popular cigarettes in several Euro-
pean Countries and in the U.S. include investigations on
the types and levels of volatile (VNA) and tobacco specific
nitrosamines (TSNA).
GLC-TEA and HPLC-TEA methods are used to determine
the VNA and TSNA in mainstream and sidestream smoke of
cigarettes.
This report presents data on the smoke of some West
German cigarettes which demonstrate that the VNA levels
are about the same as those in the smoke of U.S. cigarettes,
but that they are lower than-those in the smoke of French
cigarettes, made of dark tobacco types. The tobacco-speci-
fic nonvolatile N-nitrosamines determined in the mainstream
smoke of commercial U.S. blended cigarettes (N-nitrosoana-
tabine, N-nitrosonornicotine and 4-[N-methyl-N-nitrosamino]-
1-I3-pyridyl]-1-butanone together) ranged from 680 to
830 ng per cigarette, while those for commercial West German
products ranged'from 340 to 780 ng!per cigarette in nonfilter
brands and from 180 to 450 ng in filter tipped cigarettes,
and while the analyzed French products contained 1010 to 1380
of these compounds in the smoke of each cigarette. O
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Introduction
The presence of both volatile and'tobacco specific N-nitros-
amines in cigarette smoke and their selective reduction in
mainstream smoke (MS) by cellulose acetate filter tips has
been reported previously (1-6). The levels of volatile
nitrosamines (VNA) in undiluted sidestream smoke (SS), exceed
those in the MS of filter cigarettes up to several hundred
times; the generation of VNA in SS is not only dependent on
precursors but also on the air flow around the burning cone
of a cigarette (4,6). Comparisons of VNA in MS and SS were
made in studies on commercial cigarettes from the U.S., and
more recently, on French, Swiss and some German cigarettes
(5-7). However, TSNA in MS and SS have thus far only been
compared in popular U.S. cigarettes where they were found
to be generated in about equal amounts under the standardized
conditions employed for machine smoking of cigarettes (8).
This study presents analytical data for both VNA and TSNA
in the smoke of several leading West German cigarettes in
the context of comparing biologically important smoke con-
stituents of popular cigarettes from various countries.
This complements a large scale international study on smok-
ing patterns and lung cancer conducted
cer Institute (9).
by the National Can-

In the overall objective of defining! the less harm-
ful cigarette, reduction of VNA and of the tobacco specific
nitrosamines in the mainstream smoke is of importance because of
the demonstrated carcinogenic activity of these classes
of compounds in the experimental animal C1a,11).

Material and Methods.
Apparatus. For the MS analysis,cigarettes were smoked
with a 20-port automatic smoker (H. Borgwaldt, Hamburg,
, Germany) with a rotating,head where every second port
is connected to a nitrogen source, thus replacing the
,
air in the trap with nitrogen every 2 seconds (12).
-Smoking for the SS analysis is done with a single-
channel smoker (H. Borgwaldt, Hamburg, Germany) and SS
apparatus adjusted to an air flow of 1500 ml/min (13).
For one of the filter cigarettes flow rates were varied
from 250 to 500, 1000 and 1,500 ml/min in order to study
the effects of flow rates on the yields of VNA in the SS.
For the VNA analysis we employed a Hewlett-Packard
Model 700 gas liquid chromatograph interfaced with a
thermal energy analyzer (TEA; Thermo Electron Corp.,
Waltham, Mass.) as a detector and with a Hewlett-Packard
Model 3380 A recording integrator. TSNA were separated
from a concentrate by HPLC using a Model 6000 A sol-
vent delivery system (Waters Associates, Inc., Milford,
Mass.) with a Model 70-10 sample injection valve, and
Model 70-11 loop filler port (Rheodyne, Berkeley, Calif.)
and Corasil II and two u-Porasil columns
Inc. ) .
4
(Waters Associates,

Smoke of one brand e:ach of filter and nonfilter cigarettes
was also analyzed for individual N-nitrosamines with a
Hewlett-Packard Model 5982 A GLC-MS instrument. A Nuclear
Chicago Isocap 300 was used for scintillationcounting in
toluene with 0.5% PPO and!0.005% POPOP.
Reagents.
[14C]N-Nitrosodimethylamine (14C-NDMA) 0.48 mCi/mmol)
was employed as an internal standard for VNA and [2'-14C],
N'-nitrosonornicotine (14.1 mCi/mmol; 14) for NVNA. The
VNA standards were kindly provided by Dr. T. Fazio, Food
and Drug Administration, Washington, D.C. N'-Nitrosonor-
nicotine (NNN), 4-(N-methyl=N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-
1-butanone (NNK)~ and N'-nitrosoanatabine (NAtB) were syn-
thesized by methods reported in the literature (2,10,14).
All solvents used throughout this study were free from.
VNA and NVNA according to GLC-TEA analysis.
Cigarettes.
All cigarettes for VNA analyses (except Cigarette B) Q
O
were purchased on the open market in Berlin during 1978. ~
Cigarette B and all other brands for the TSNA analysis ~
were bought in Berlin in 1979. The cigarettes were stored CA
(Z
at 22 +2° and at relative humidity of 60+3% for 24 hours
and were selected to be within +20 mg of the average weight
of 200 cigarettes. The cigarettes were smoked in a
7 5._

laboratory maintained at a relative humidity of 60+5% and
at 22+2°. Throughout the study, we applied standard
smoking conditions, taking 1 puff/min of 2 seconds dura- -
tion and 35 ml volume, and smoking to 23 mm butt length.
For filter cigarettes the butt length was determined by
the length of the filter, plus overwrap,plus 3 mm (15).
[These smoking conditions are nearly identical with those
of the Deutsche Normen DIN 10240 f or machine smoking of
cigarettes (16)11.
MainstreamiSmoke Analysis.
1. Volatile N-Nitrosamines. The procedure has
been
published earlier (4) and is summarized in Figure 1. It
requires 50 weight selected cigarettes to be'smoked
through 2 gas wash bottles (250 ml), each containing
100 ml citrate-phosphate buffer (pH 4.5) with 20 mM
ascorbic acid and [14C]-NDMA (50,000 dpm). The combined
buffer solutions were extracted with dichloromethane
(6x100 ml) and this extract was washed with 2N NaOH. The
organic phase was dried (Na2SO4), concentrated!(ti 5 ml)
-and chromatographed on a column (2x3Ocm) of 65 g basic
alumina Woelm (activity II-III) with 200 ml
dichloromethane. The eluate was concentrated (0.5-1.0ml)
and an aliquot was analyzed by GC with a TEA. The gas
chromatograms were obtained on a 20 ft x 1/8 inch
stainless steel column packed with 10% Carbowax 20 M

on Gas Chrom Q (80-100 mesh); oven 185°; injector port,
2:00° ; flow rate - 40 ml Ar/min. The recovery rate for
[14C]-NDMA varied between 75-90% (Figure 1).
2. Tobacco Specific N-Nitrosamines. Sixty weight
selected cigarettes were smoked through 2 gas wash bot-
tles containing buffer solution and f inally through a
Cambridge filter in the same manner as those for volatile
N-nitrosamines (2). The trap solutions contained [2'-
14C]-NNN. After smoking, the filter pads were twice ex-
tracted with dichloromethane and the buffer solutions
f rom the traps were 5 times extracted with 100 ml each of
dichloromethane. The combined organic phases and filter
extracts were dried (Na2SO4), concentrated to 5 ml and
chromatographed on 90 g of basic alumina Woelm (activity
II to III) on a 2 x 30 cm column with dichloromethane
(250 ml) and a 4:1 mixture of dichloromethane with ace-
tone (200 ml). The eluates were concentrated to 1-5 ml
depending on the concentration of the TSNA; the recovery
rate for [14C]-NNN varied between 70-85%. Ten to 100111
of the final concentrate from the smoke were injected in-
to an HPLC system, consisting of a Corasil II precolumn
followed by 2 uPorasil columns. A solvent mixture of
68.6% chloroform, 30% cyclohexane and 1.4% methanol was
used at a flow of 1 ml/min.
7

Sidestream Smoke Analysis.
For the sidestream analysis, 6 cigarettes selected
for weight and draw resistance (+7$ of average draw
resistance of weight selected cigarettes) were smoked in
a special apparatus (Figure 3)~. In general, the air flow
rate through the sidestream smoke device was 1,5D0
ml/min, however, in one additional case flow rates of
250, 500 and 1,000 ml/min were used. Only 1 cigarette
was smoked at a time by a single channel smoker. The
sid'estream~smoke was led into 2 gas wash bottles contain-
ing!buff er solution with ascorbic acid (see above). The
work-up of the trapped smoke was identical with that of
the mainstream smoke.
Results and Discussion.
Figure 4 shows a gas chromatogram~of volatile N-ni-
trosamines in the mainstream smoke of a popular West Ger-
man cigarette. In additi=to the major VNA, N-nitroso-
dimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosoethylmethylamine (NEMA)
and N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), GLC-MS analysis showed
also the presence of N-nitrosodiethylamine and N-nitroso-
piperidine (< 1 ng/cig). Table 1 demonstrates that the
concentrations of VNA in the sidestream smoke depends
greatly on the ratio of air flow through the sidetream
smoke collecting device (Figure 3). The f low rate of
1,500 m1 per minute through the apparatus was determined

to yield data for TPM, nicotine, and VNA in the main-
stream smoke most closely comparable to those resulting
from machine smoking of the cigarettes without restric-
tion of air flow (open air ), and was thus chosen as the
operating mode for comparative analysis.
Table 2 lists the results for NDMA, NEMA, and NPYR
in MS and SS of "2 popular nonf ilter cigarettes and 4 pop-
ular cellulose acetate filter cigarettes from the West
German market. The MS contained higher levels of NPYR
than of NDMA. The values for NDMA and NPYR are reprodu-
cible within + 10%. Generally, these data confirmed the
earlier finding the VNA levels are significantly lower in
the MS of cellulose acetate filter cigarettes than in the
MS of nonf ilter cigarettes because of selective f iltra-
tion (2,3). Under standardized smoking conditions
employed for machine smoking of cigarettes, the VNA con-
centrations were much greater in SS than in MS.
Figure 5 depicts a high performance liquid chromato-
gram~of the TSNA in the MS of a West German cigarette and
Table 3 lists the quantitative data caLculated from the
corrected peak areas of the TEA response for the tobacco
specific nitrosamines in the MS of 6 selected: West German
cigarettes. The values for the 3 individual TSNA are
reproducible within + 10%. It appears that levels of NNN
- 9. -
