The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies Acetamide and Acrylamide as possible and probable carcinogens, respectively. Both of these short-chain amides are found in mainstream tobacco smoke and have been included in the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHC) list.

A fast and sensitive method for the simultaneous analysis of these amides by LC-MS/MS has been developed to meet future regulations and was accredited to ISO 17025. In this new method, mainstream smoke is passed through a 92 mm Cambridge pad to which Acetamide- d3 and Acrylamide- d3 internal standards are added. A simple liquid-liquid extraction/clean-up procedure will be presented and its effect on Acetamide stability discussed.

For control cigarettes (Kentucky Reference 3R4F) smoked under ISO (35/60/2) conditions, the concentration of Acetamide and Acrylamide determined (n=39) using this method was 2.95 μg/cig and 1.34 μg/cig, respectively, and for intense smoking conditions (55/30/2, vents blocked), 12.09 μg/cig and 4.39 μg/cig, respectively. This data compares well with GC-MS results. Limits of detection (LOD) of 0.05 μg/cig were determined for both analytes after correction for matrix suppression. Relative standard deviations for measurements of the control cigarette under both ISO and intense conditions were less than 8% for both amides. Typical analytical run times were less than 7 minutes.

The procedure has also been shown to be applicable to sidestream smoke and e-cigarette vapour. Data will be presented for cigarette and e-cigarette products.