Rapid method for the analysis of tobacco nicotine alkaloids

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Abstract

A rapid glass capillary gas chromatographic (GC) method for the analysis of the nicotine alkaloids of tobacco, including nicotine, nornicotine, myosmine, anabasine, anatabine and 2,3′-dipyridyl, was developed. The use of glass capillary GC methodology, coupled with nitrogen-specific detection, provided rapid, unambiguous alkaloid analysis. About 25 mg of cured tobacco and 1 ml of 0.05 M methanolic potassium hydroxide (containing the internal standard, 2,4′-dipyridyl) were placed in a standard 2-ml autosampler vial, and the vial was capped and placed in an ultrasonic bath for 15 min. A 1-μl volume was analyzed by glass capillary GC operating in the split-injection mode on a wall-coated Superox™-4 column. This simple procedure is compared with the previously reported Soxhlet extraction-packed column GC method and the Griffith still-colorimetric method. The application of the method for the analysis of alkaloids in various cured and green, budworm-resistant, tobaccos is discussed.

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Cited by (58)

  • Ultrasonic extraction and capillary gas chromatography determination of nicotine in pharmaceutical formulations

    2004, Analytica Chimica Acta
    Citation Excerpt :

    In early methods, a polar stationary phase of Carbowax and potassium hydroxide was frequently used. Later, some studies [13,19] reported problems of adsorption and tailing of more basic alkaloids in polar stationary phases. After multiple preliminary assays, an EC™-5 capillary column with a non-polar stationary phase of 5% phenyl- and 95% dimethyl-polysiloxane mixture was selected in this study.

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