ABSTRACT
An analytical method for the determination of catechol in tobacco by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) has been developed. A Sep-Park-C18 solid phase extraction cartridge was used for the enrichment of the analyte for HPLC-MS/MS analysis. The mobile phase was methanol-0.2% (v/v) formic acid with gradient elution. The sample was analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS in the ESI-scanning mode with multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) for qualitative and quantitative analyses. The linear range of calibration curve was 0.5-200 µg/kg with good correlation coefficients (r2 = 0.998 9). The recoveries of catechol spiked in three levels were in the range of 83.1%-98.6%, with the relative standard deviations of 1.9%-5.8%. This method was initially applied to the research of catechol as a flavor additive in six retail tobacco samples and proved to be accurate, sensitive, convenient and practical. The analyte was found in the six retail tobacco samples, and in some cases, the presence of quite high concentrations of catechol in tobacco should be a matter of concern.
