GC–MS Analysis of Hydrogen Sulfide, Carbonyl Sulfide, Methanethiol, Carbon Disulfide, Methyl Thiocyanate and Methyl Disulfide in Mainstream Vapor Phase Cigarette Smoke

A method is described for the simultaneous analysis of hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, methanethiol, carbon disulfide, methyl thiocyanate and methyl disulfide in mainstream vapor phase (MVP) cigarette smoke by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The fresh MVP smoke was collected in a gas bag, followed by injection of a 50 μL gas sample into the GC inlet via an automatic six-port valve. The separation was on a CP-PoraPLOT Q column and MS was operated in SIM mode. It was found that while carbonyl sulfide and carbon disulfide are very stable in the gas bag, hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol, methyl disulfide and methyl thiocyanate are extremely reactive and their levels increase or decrease drastically with the storage time in the gas bag. These results suggest that there is an absolute need to analyze the smoke sample as quickly as possible. Maintaining a precise time after the smoke collection is a key factor in order to obtain reproducible results. In this study, all the samples are injected within 2 min after MVP smoke was collected in the bag. Under smoke conditions of 60 mL puff of 2 s duration every 30 s, 12 brands of commercial cigarettes and Kentucky Reference 2R4F cigarettes were analyzed. Average values of three replicates of the 2R4F cigarettes were 31.6 μg cigt−1 hydrogen sulfide, 40.7 μg cigt−1 carbonyl sulfide, 25.6 μg cigt−1 methanethiol, 2.2 μg cigt−1 carbon disulfide, 23.7 μg cigt−1 methyl thiocyanate and 17.6 μg cigt−1 methyl disulfide. All other types of analyzed cigarettes show a similar quantitative distribution for these analytes.