Rapid and sensitive gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry method for the determination of organic acids in tobacco leaves

Abstract

An improved gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry method has been developed for the determination of organic acids in tobacco leaves. Optimization of the selected reaction monitoring scan mode, including selection of the appropriate precursor–product ions and optimization of the collision energy parameters for each acid, were carried out to improve the sensitivity and selectivity. Sample preparation was performed by derivatization-free extraction instead of conventional derivatization extraction to shorten the work time and reduce the amount of physical labor. Validation of the method was carried out in terms of linearity, limits of detection (LOD), accuracy, and precision. Calibration curves were plotted over a concentration range of 0.27 to 69.26 μg mL⁻¹, the regression coefficients were determined to be over 0.9975, each acid having a selected dosage concentration. The LOD were 0.01–0.06 μg mL⁻¹ and for most of the analytes recovery was between 80–111%, with a relative standard deviation of less than 10%. The repeatability, reproducibility, and precision of this method were comparable to those of previously published methods. The development and validation results discussed in this paper indicate that this method is suitable and convenient for the quantification of organic acids in tobacco leaves.