Use of autoclave extraction-supercritical fluid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry to analyze 4-(methylintrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone and N’-nitrosonornicotine in tobacco

Abstract 4-(methylintrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and N’ -nitrosonornicotine (NNN) are the most prevalent and toxic tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). Due to their carcinogenicity, knowledge of the composition of NNK and NNN in tobacco is necessary. Herein, a sensitive and rapid method, which employs autoclave extraction-supercritical fluid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS), has been developed for the analysis of NNK and NNN in tobacco. Both water-soluble and matrix-bound NNK and NNN were extracted with 100 mM ammonium acetate in an autoclave (130 °C, 4 h), and the aqueous extract was subjected to solvent replacement prior to SFC-MS/MS analysis. NNK and NNN were effectively separated within 5 min by using supercritical CO 2 as the main mobile phase coupled with a co-solvent of methanol. Excellent linearity was obtained with coefficients of determination ( R 2 ) greater than 0.9997 in the range of 1–160 ng/mL and 5–800 ng/mL for NNK and NNN, respectively. The recoveries were in the range of 92.5–110.0% at different spiked levels of real samples. 12 tobacco samples which include 3 typical tobacco varieties of burley, flue-cured, and oriental tobaccos had been analyzed, and the fraction of matrix-bound NNK was determined as well. In addition, a comparison between the proposed SFC-MS/MS method and a validated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) internal standard method was conducted. Both techniques exhibit comparable analysis results, but peak splitting of NNN was observed by LC-MSMS due to the existence of E / Z isomers, while SFC-MS/MS offers great improvement through elution condition optimization, demonstrating the applicability of SFC-MS/MS as an alternative tool for NNK and NNN analysis.