Effects of cyclodextrins on volatility of chemical components during tobacco extract concentration

In order to reduce the volatile loss of tobacco chemical components during extract concentration in reconstituted tobacco production, three cyclodextrins (α-, β- and γ-CD) were added to the extract, the volatile chemical components were collected by thermal evaporation-condensation extraction method and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by GC-MS to investigate the effects of three cyclodextrins on chemical components during tobacco extract concentration. The results showed that: 1) The abilities of the three cyclodextrins on reducing volatile loss of chemical components differed due to their different molecular cavity sizes. The ability of γ-CD on reducing volatile loss was the best, followed by β- and α-CD. Both β- and γ-CD could reduce the volatile loss of tobacco chemical components in a relatively wide range of molecular volume; while the molecular volumes affected by α-CD were relatively smaller. 2) The mixture of α-, β- and γ-CD at a mass ratio of 1:2:1 was added into the tobacco extract, the volatilization loss of the most chemical components could be reduced by 10%-30% at the addition rate of 1.0%. Furthermore, the volatile losses of the components at lower concentrations were less, indicating that the mixture of three cyclodextrins had a complementary effect.