Comparative study of antimony exposition by cigarettes and alternatives of tobacco consumption

Abstract

A comparative study of Sb(III) exposition is presented. The determination of trace amounts of Sb(III) present in tobacco samples (tobacco of conventional cigarettes, refill solutions for e-cigarettes, snuff used in water pipe, snus and dry rapé) has been realized by solid surface fluorescence using alizarin as fluorogenic reagent (λem = 450 nm, λexc = 363 nm). In a first step, a chemisorption on filter paper was carried out with the bile salt sodium cholate (pH 10.2). In these conditions, the metal was selectively retained on the solid support preventing the spectral interferences of the complex matrix. The calibration graphs resulted linear in the range of 0.24 to 304.4 μg L−1 with detection limit of 0.08 μg L−1 (S/N = 3.3). Results were truenessed by ETAAS with adequate agreement. The results will be used in prevention workshops for the purpose to provide scientific evidence to serve young people to make a correct decision respect the tobacco consumption.