Title:Simultaneous Determination of Nicotine and Phenolic Compounds in Tobacco by Capillary Electrophoresis with Pipette Tip Electrodes
Volume: 18
Issue: 9
Author(s): Chunbo Liu, Farui Li, Xinle Zhang, Zhenjie Li and Gang Chen*
Affiliation:
- School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai
201203, China
- Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Chengbei Road, Yiwu 200040, China
Keywords:
Capillary electrophoresis, amperometric detection, pipette tips, tobacco, nicotine, phenolic compounds.
Abstract:
Aim: The aim of this work is to fabricate pipette tip electrodes for the capillary electrophoretic
determination of nicotine and phenolic compounds in tobacco.
Background: The content of nicotine affects not only the quality of tobacco products but also the health
of smokers. Phenolic compounds are important flavor precursors in tobacco. The quantity of phenolic
compounds is one of the most important evaluation indicators of tobacco quality. It is of high importance
to determine nicotine and phenolic compounds in tobacco for quality control and the health of smokers.
Objective: A method based on capillary electrophoresis and amperometric detection was developed for
the simultaneous determination of nicotine, rutin, chlorogenic acid, quercetin, ferulic acid, gallic acid, and
protocatechuic acid in tobacco leaves. Pipette electrodes were designed and fabricated for their amperometric
detection.
Methods: Nicotine, rutin, chlorogenic acid, quercetin, ferulic acid, gallic acid, and protocatechuic acid
were determined by capillary electrophoresis in combination with the detection electrodes that were fabricated
by packing the composite of carbon nanotube and epoxy in pipette tips.
Results: Detection potentials, the acidity and concentrations of background electrolyte, separation voltages,
and injection times were optimized. At a high voltage of 12 kV, separation of the seven analytes could
be achieved in less than 11 min in a piece of 40 cm long fused silica capillary with a background electrolyte
of 50 mM borate buffer (9.2). Linearity was observed between the peak currents and the concentrations,
with the limits of detection ranging from 0.1 to 0.2 μM for the seven analytes at the pipette electrodes.
The method was applied in the simultaneous determination of nicotine and phenolic compounds
with satisfactory assay results.
Conclusion: The pipette tip electrodes were successfully coupled with capillary electrophoresis for tobacco
analysis. The CE-AD method provides not only a simple approach for the quality control of tobacco
and its preparations but also an alternative technique for the constituent and fingerprint investigation of
other plants.
