Simultaneous determination of four tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

An improved method was developed to rapidly determine four tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines (TSNAs) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The new method offered reduced sample preparation and analysis time as compared to traditional methods. The results showed that:1) ethyl acetate could replace solid phase extraction to purify TSNAs from tobacco leaves; the operation was fast and more suitable for analysing samples of large quantities; 2) the limits of detection (LODs) of N-nitrosonornicotine (NNN), 4-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), N-nitrosoanatabine (NAT) and N-nitrosoanabasine (NAB) were 4.22, 2.38, 1.29 and 0.72 ng/g, respectively, while the recoveries of the method ranged from 87.7% to 107.0%.