Determination of nicotine in tea (Camellia sinensis) by LC–ESI–MS/MS using a modified QuEChERS method

• Published in: European food research & technology Vol. 241; no. 2; pp. 227 - 232
• Main Authors: Thräne, Claudia, Isemer, Claas, Engelhardt, Ulrich H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.08.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acids; Agriculture; Analytical Chemistry; Biotechnology; black tea; brewing; Camellia sinensis; Caustic soda; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Food; food research; Food safety; Food Science; Forestry; green tea; Methods; Nicotine; Original Paper; Pesticides; Regulated industries; Scientific imaging; soaking; Sodium; Studies; Tea; tea (beverage); Germany; Tea; QuEChERS; LC–ESI–MS/MS; Nicotine
• ISSN: 1438-2377; 1438-2385
• DOI: 10.1007/s00217-015-2447-5

In this work, a method for qualification and quantification of nicotine in dry tea and tea infusions with LC–ESI–MS/MS has been developed. Sample preparation is based on QuEChERS. Nicotine-d₄ served as internal standard. This simple and fast method leads to recoveries of 95–104 % and good repeatability. Coefficients of variation are 3.7 % for intra-day precision and 4.6 % for inter-day precision. Limit of quantification (5.9 µg kg⁻¹) is below the requested value of 10 µg kg⁻¹. For some samples, it was superior to use a HILIC column compared with the originally used RP-18. Application to real samples (n = 87) showed nicotine concentrations in dry tea from <0.01 to 1.95 mg kg⁻¹. In brewing studies of green teas and black teas, it was confirmed that the extraction of nicotine into tea brews was between 49 and 52 % for a steeping time of 5 min.