Evaluation of diethylthiobarbituric acid as a spectrophotometric reagent for tobacco alkaloids

Abstract

The use of diethylthiobarbituric acid as a spectrophotometric reagent for the specific determination of nicotine and nicotine metabolites (measured as equivalents of nicotine) has been evaluated. Although the method is capable of making the qualitative distinction between a smoker (10–15 cigarettes per day or more) and a non-smoker (no colour response) it has been found to be unreliable as a method of assessing the degree of smoking activity. The reasons for this unreliability can be attributed to the difficulty in controlling the colour development procedures and to the interference from other responsive compounds in the urine samples.