Determination of Nicotine in Tobacco by Non-Aqueous Titration

Nicotine is a nitrogenous alkaloid that stimulates the parasympathetic nerves. It is highly addictive and is hazardous to health. The determination of the amount of nicotine in tobacco products is therefore important.

This Application Note describes a simple method to determine this chemical in tobacco using non-aqueous titration. For comparison, the results determined by GC and IC on the same sample are given.

Sample

Chesterfield original cigarette tobacco

Sample Preparation

For the sample, 6 g tobacco is placed in a 500 mL Schott flask into which 2 g barium hydroxide octahydrate is then placed and stirred. Following this, 30 mL saturated barium hydroxide solution is added and then 200 mL extraction solvent. This solution is then placed for 20 min in an ultrasonic bath. At this point the organic phase is collected in an Erlenmeyer flask and placed over anhydrous magnesium sulfate for drying. The suspension is filtered and the filtrate collected.

Configuration

Solutions

Analysis

Blank and Sample Determination

25 mL of the filtrate is placed into a 100 mL beaker and made up to 60 mL with ethanol. The solution is titrated with c(HClO₄) = 0.1 mol/L in acetic acid until the first equivalence point is passed.

Parameters

Results

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Metrohm AG.

For more information on this source, please visit Metrohm AG.