Ubiquitous atmospheric contamination by tobacco smoke: Nicotine and a new marker for tobacco smoke-derived particulate matter, nicotelline.

ABSTRACT: Second Hand Smoke (SHS) has always been primarily linked with indoor pollution. To date nicotine was the favoured marker for SHS alongside measurements of particulate matter (PM) levels. As nicotine is mainly found in the gas-phase and reactive in the outdoor environment it is not ideal as a marker for the SHS-driven particulate component in PM. Nicotelline, a minor tobacco alkaloid that is stable, found almost exclusively in the particle phase and easy to quantify even at low concentrations, is being proposed as a better marker. It is the first study using bisulfate-treated quartz fiber filters to show that airborne nicotine (gas+particle phase) is directly proportional to airborne nicotelline in countries that have different climates. The analytical method developed has been validated to

SUBMITTER: Aquilina NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7987222 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature