Determination of toxic elements in different brands of cigarette by atomic absorption spectrometry using ultrasonic assisted acid digestion

In this paper, a sample preparation method based on ultrasonic assisted acid extraction (UAE) of Al, As, Cd, Ni and Pb from filler tobacco (FT) of different local branded (LBCs) and imported branded cigarettes (IBCs) consumed in Pakistan. Acid extracts obtained upon sonication were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Parameters influencing extraction such as pre-sonication time 10-15 min, sonication time 2-10 min, mass of sample 0.1-0.5 g, particle size < 35-125 mu m and, extractant (nitric acid) concentrations (2-10%) were fully optimized to get quantitative recovery of toxic elements (TEs). The proposed method was validated with a certified reference material (CRM) Virginia tobacco leaves (ICHTJ-cta-VTL-2), and also applied a conventional acid digestion method (CDM) on same CRM, for comparative purpose. The average relative standard deviation of UAE method of CRM, ranged as 1.64-8.42% for N = 6, depending on the analytes. Extraction efficiencies for CRM were close to 97.1, 97.5, 98.5, 97.8 and 96.7 for Al, As, Cd, Ni and Pb, respectively. The concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Ni and Pb in cigarettes were present in all branded cigarettes, there is no any significance difference among LBCs and IBCs, except in few cases of LBCs, have high level of Cd and Al. Our results were compared with other worldwide studies.