Fast Determination of Acrylonitrile, Crotonaldehyde, Pyridine and Quinoline in Environmental Tobacco Smoke with APCI-MS/MS

In order to determine the chemical pollutants in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) which might possess potential risks to human health and environment, an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method was established to fast analyze four volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (acrylonitrile, crotonaldehyde, pyridine and quinoline) in ETS. The ETS samples without any pretreatment was directed into a modified APCI ion source via inlet end of mass spectrometer and analyzed under multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The results showed that the calibration curves of the four compounds exhibited good linear relations (R²>0.999) with the limits of detection from 0.39 to 0.70 ng/L and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) from 5.14% to 9.42%. This method is simple in operation and features higher sensitivity, it is suitable for the fast analysis of acrylonitrile, crotonaldehyde, pyridine, and quinoline in ETS.