Iron pentacarbonyl detection limits in the cigarette smoke matrix using FT-IR spectroscopy

• Published in: Spectrochimica acta. Part A, Molecular and biomolecular spectroscopy Vol. 62; no. 1; pp. 226 - 232
• Main Authors: Parrish, Milton E., Plunkett, Susan E., Harward, Charles N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 01.11.2005
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Cigarette smoke; FT-IR spectroscopy; Iron Carbonyl Compounds; Iron oxide nanoparticles; Iron pentacarbonyl; Organometallic Compounds - analysis; Sensitivity and Specificity; Smoke - analysis; Smoking; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared - methods; Iron pentacarbonyl; FT-IR spectroscopy; Iron oxide nanoparticles; Cigarette smoke
• ISSN: 1386-1425
• DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2004.12.050

Endogenous metals present in tobacco from agricultural practices have been purported to generate metal carbonyls in cigarette smoke. Transition metal catalysts, such as iron oxide, have been investigated for the reduction of carbon monoxide (CO) in cigarette smoke. These studies motivated the development of an analytical method to determine if iron pentacarbonyl [Fe(CO) 5] is present in mainstream smoke from cigarette models having cigarette paper made with iron oxide. An FT-IR puff-by-puff method was developed and the detection limit was determined using two primary reference spectra from different sources to estimate the amount of Fe(CO) 5 present in a high-pressure steel cylinder of CO. We do not detect Fe(CO) 5 in a single 35 mL puff from reference cigarettes or from those cigarette models having cigarette paper made with iron oxide, with a 30-ppbV limit of detection (LOD). Also, it was shown that a filter containing activated carbon would remove Fe(CO) 5.