Determination of Imidazole, 4-Methylimidazole, and 2-Methylimidazole in Cigarette Additives by Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography was employed for the determination of imidazole, 4-methylimidazole, and 2-methylimidazole in cigarette additives. Following solid phase extraction and filtration, the analytes were separated using isocratic elution with 5 mmol/L acetonitrile-ammonium formate (80:20, v/v) at 0.5 mL/min. The quantification of these analytes was achieved with the external standard method on a diode-array detector at 215 nm. Baseline separation was achieved within 1.3 min. The linear dynamic ranges for imidazole, 4-methylimidazole, and 2-methylimidazole were between 0.0375 and 18.0300 mg/kg. The limits of detection for the analytes were 0.0094 mg/kg. The recoveries and the relative standard deviations at fortification levels of 0.1322 mg/kg to 1.6220 mg/kg were 95.20% to 101.93% and 0.55% to 2.54%, respectively. The method offers easy operation, rapid analysis, and accurate results, and is suitable for the determination of imidazole, 4-methylimidazole, and 2-methylimidazole in cigarette additives.