Change of Sterol Contents in Paper-making Process Reconstituted Tobacco During Processing

In order to investigate the change of sterol contents in paper-making process reconstituted tobacco at various processing stages,the contents of five sterols(ergosterol,cholesterol,campesterol,stigmasterol and β-sitosterol) were determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS).The results showed that:1) The contents of the said sterols were higher in tobacco leaves than in tobacco stems,and the major sterols in tobacco leaves and stems were stigmasterol and β-sitosterol.2) The content of sterols decreased by 21.35% and 15.13% at extraction and concentration stages,respectively.3) At blending stage,the content of sterols in low consistency pulp actually increased by 10.64%.4) At beating and papermaking stages,the content of sterols decreased by 14.06% and 14.18%,respectively.5) Sterol content changed little at the other processing stages.The sterol content remaining in finished reconstituted tobacco was 48.67% of that in raw material.