Characterization of complex hydrocarbons in cigarette smoke condensate by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry with electron ionization and positive-ion chemical ionization and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC–TOF-MS) were applied for the characterization of the chemical composition of complex hydrocarbons in the non-polar neutral fraction of cigarette smoke condensates. Automated data processing by TOF-MS software combined with structured chromatograms and manual review of library hits were used to assign the components from GC × GC–TOF-MS analysis. The distributions of aliphatic hydrocarbons and aromatics were also investigated. Over 100 isoprenoid hydrocarbons were detected, including carotene degradation products, phytadiene isomers and carbocyclic diterpenoids. A total of 1800 hydrocarbons were tentatively identified, including aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatics, and isoprenoid hydrocarbons. The identified hydrocarbons by GC × GC–TOF-MS were far more than those by GC–MS.