Mw. Ogden et al., ARTIFACTS IN DETERMINING THE VAPOR-PARTICULATE PHASE DISTRIBUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO-SMOKE NICOTINE, Environmental technology, 14(8), 1993, pp. 779-785
Nicotine in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) resides predominantly in
the aerosol vapour phase as a result of evaporation from the particle
s of sidestream smoke. In true ETS (i. e., not concentrated or fresh s
idestream smoke), the fraction of nicotine associated with the aerosol
particulate phase is quite small, typically less than 5% of the total
. Recently, some investigators have collected nicotine with sampling s
ystems employing sorbent resin cartridges downstream from glass-fibre
filters, and have attributed the nicotine retained on the glass-fibre
filters to the particulate phase. The data reported here demonstrate t
hat phase distributions and dynamics determined using glass-fibre filt
ers are due to sampling system artefacts. Glass-fibre filters collect
virtually all nicotine (vapour- and particulate-phase) at relatively s
hort sampling intervals (1-2 min). The percentage of total nicotine tr
apped on the filter decreases with increasing sampling time. Using suc
h a system, only that amount of total nicotine which exceeds the adsor
ptive capacity of the filter will break through and be collected by th
e sorbent medium. Attributing ETS particulate-phase nicotine to the qu
antity collected on a glass-fibre filter leads to erroneous conclusion
s regarding vapour-particulate phase dynamics.