Ga. Eiceman et al., ION MOBILITY SPECTROMETRY FOR CONTINUOUS ON-SITE MONITORING OF NICOTINE VAPORS IN AIR DURING THE MANUFACTURE OF TRANSDERMAL SYSTEMS, Journal of hazardous materials, 43(1-2), 1995, pp. 13-30
Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) can provide continuous on-site monitor
ing of nicotine in air exceeding in real-time the current OSHA eight h
our exposure standard of 0.5 mg/m(3). A handheld IMS with water reagen
t gas, exhibited near instantaneous response, detection limits of 0.00
6 mg/m(3) and median relative standard deviations of 3.1% for vapor le
vels between 0.01 to 0.25 mg/m(3). Ion mobility spectra for nicotine s
howed characteristic product ions which were mass-identified as monome
r (M . H+) and dimer (M(2) . H+) ions. Continuous monitoring of ambien
t air during the manufacture of nicotine-based transdermal systems dem
onstrated that short-lived, elevated concentrations of iso-propanol oc
curred when surfaces on the production equipment were cleaned. However
, the concentration profile for nicotine in ambient air showed a gradu
al rise to a plateau with only minor ripple. High variability in perso
nal samplers was attributed to localized concentrations of nicotine in
the production equipment as identified using the hand-held IMS analyz
er.