Relationship Between Free Radical Content and Tar Content in Cigarettes / 环境与健康杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the methods of preparing samples, analyse free radical in smoke of cigarette and the relationship between free radical and the other harmful components in the cigarette smoke. Methods The contents of two types of free radical in smoke of 13 kinds of cigarettes were determined with electron spim resonance(ESR) and the self-made equipment. Results The analytic results showed that the main component was the free radical in gas state in all cigarette samples and it was about 10-30 times higher than the content of free radical in solid state. The content of free radical in gas state of cigarette made in China was lower than that made in foreign country. Conclusion The analysis method using ESR and the self-made equipment will be easily used in the related experiment; The level of free radical in gas and solid state is positively related to the level of tar and nicotine in the cigarette sample of same trademark but it is not the same in the samples of different trademark. Therefore, we can not to infer the content of free radial in cigarette smoke by the content of tar and nicotine in it,especially for the content of free radial in gas state. Using charcoal filter is benefit to reduce the level of free radical in cigarette smoke.