APPLICATION OF HIGH PERFORMANCE THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR DETERMINATION OF NICOTINE IN DIFFERENT BRANDS OF CIGARETTES

Abstract

There are several known methods for quantitative determination of nicotine, the main alkaloid of Nicotiana tabacum, with each presenting a series of advantages and disadvantages. As an alternative, we suggest a densitometric determination for nicotine allowing its estimation in a number of brands of cigarettes. Separation was performed by thin layer chromatography using hexane: CH₂Cl₂:MeOH (2:8:1.5) as a developing mixture. Densitometric measurements were carried out at the absorption maximum 254 nm. The method demonstrated good precision and accuracy, which were indicated by the low values of RSD %. Limits of detection and quantitation were recorded as 0.008 mg mL⁻¹ and 0.02 mg mL⁻¹, respectively. A considerable variation of nicotine content was noticed among the nine investigated brands of cigarettes where samples 3 and 8 revealed the highest amounts of nicotine that were approximately duplicated compared to other samples.

Keywords:

• accuracy
• cigarettes
• HPTLC
• nicotine
• precision
• selectivity