Rapid Determination of Volatile and Nonvolatile Organic Acids in Tobacco by GC/MS

A rapid method for determining volatile and nonvolatile organic acids in tobacco by GC/MS was established.Volatile and nonvolatile organic acids in tobacco were derivatized into methyl esters by using p-toluene sulfuric acid and sulfuric acid and methanol(PTSA/H2SO4/CH3OH),and extracted with hexane.The esterifying time was only 1h by using the present method instead of 20 h by using traditional method.The methyl ester derivatives of the acids were determined qualitatively and quantitatively on a capillary column(DB-5MS,30 m×0.25 mm i.d.×0.25 mm d.f.) by GC/MS.The average recoveries of nonvolatile acids were 93.4%~103.2% with the relative standard deviations(RSDs) less than 4.2%,and the average recoveries of volatile acids were 89.2%~99.1% with the RSDs less than 3.5%.The developed method is applicable to the determination of volatile and nonvolatile organic acids in various tobacco samples,and it is simple,rapid and accurate.