Abstract: A rapid method for the analysis of hydroquinone, resorcinol, catechol, phenol, p-cresol, m-cresol, and o-cresol in mainstream cigarette smoke by ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) using a β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) mobile phase additive was developed. The seven major phenolic compounds in mainstream smoke were collected with YC/T 255-2008 standard method. The extract was filtrated with 0.22 μm filtration film and then subjected to UPLC analysis. The separation was performed on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH Shield RP18 column, and the mobile phase with 4 g/L β-CD additive was used. The fluorescence detection condition was optimized. The analysis time was 10 min for one sample. Comparing with the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods published, the p-cresol and m-cresol were completely separated. In addition, the effect of β-CD on fluorescence enhancement for seven major phenolic compounds was significant. The linearity were good between the peak area and the concentration in the linear ranges of seven phenolic compounds, and the correlation coefficients were greater than 0.9999. The limits of detection of the method were 4-14 ng/cig, and the recoveries were 95.5%-103.5% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 4%.

Key words: β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), mainstream cigarette smoke, phenolic compounds, ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)