Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds associated with Environmental Tobacco Smoke

In this study, a wide range of volatile organic constituents of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) were determined using an environmental chamber, where ETS is the sole source of target compounds. ETS was generated in an environmental chamber by a number of different cigarettes, including the Kentucky reference cigarette and eight different commercial brands. More than 30 compounds were measured simultaneously for a total of twelve experimental runs. The target compounds are classified into three major classes, i.e. vapor phase ETS markers including 3-ethnylpyridine (3-EP) and nicotine, carbonyl compounds including formaldehyde, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The results from the chamber study were used to generate characterized ratios of selected VOCs to 3-EP, a vapor phase ETS marker. Emission factors for VOCs associated with ETS were also estimated. The characteristic ratios appeared to be generally in good agreement with published data obtained by environmental chamber studies similar to this study. This implies that the ratios may be useful for identifying and quantifying the impact of ETS as a source of target compounds in 'real world' indoor environments, which is affected by a complex mixture of multi-sources. The environmental chamber method described here provides a direct and reliable method to compare the ETS generated by different cigarettes. The method can also be applied to the simultaneous determination of many different ETS components.