Filtration of aerosol components in mainstream cigarette smoke by tobacco section.

To investigate the filtration effect of tobacco rod on smoke components in mainstream smoke, a method for analyzing the filtration by the residual tobacco section to smoke components was developed. A cigarette without its filter was lit without puffing and smouldered to the marked position of 15 mm to form a stable combustion cone, and following a puff by a linear smoking machine the residual tobacco section was cut into multiple subsections. The contents of 32 aerosol components filtered by each subsection were determined by GC-MS after extracting with dichloromethane. Six major smoke components, including nicotine, furfural, furfuryl alcohol, phenol, 4-methylphenol and indole, were selected as markers to reflect the filtration rules of tobacco section. The results showed that: 1) The filtration efficiencies of tobacco section to the target smoke components were between 12.0% and 73.6%. 2) The first subsection of 25 mm length adjacent to the combustion cone had stronger filtration to smoke components, which might be attributed to the condensation and adsorption of components in vapor phase. In comparison, the downstream subsection of tobacco rod had a weaker filtration effect, which mainly filtrated aerosol particles. This method is suitable to study the filtration rules of tobacco section to the 32 mainstream smoke components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]