Abstract: In order to study the chemical stability of liquids in breakable capsules for cigarette filter, the liquid samples were diluted by anhydrous ethanol before UV-visible spectra were collected. The obtained spectra were preprocessed by smoothing to obtain first derivative. The relationships between the chemical components and UV-visible spectra were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA). The characterization models for chemical stability of the liquids in breakable capsules were developed and validated. The results showed that:1) The chemical components with characteristic ultraviolet absorption in the breakable capsules could be characterized by UV-visible spectra. 2) At the significance level of 0.05, the recognition rates to normal and abnormal samples by the characterization models for six types of capsules were 100%. 3) Both UV-visible method and headspace-GC-MS method could successfully distinguish the normal and abnormal breakable capsule samples with cluster analysis. This method is rapid, accurate, economical and environmentally friendly, thus suitable for the quality control of breakable capsule liquids for cigarette filter.