Determination of phthalate esters in tear tape for cigarette

A method for the analysis of phthalate esters (PAEs) in the tear tape for cigarette was developed. Ultrasonic solvent extraction combined with gas chromatography was used to determine PAEs in the tear tape for cigarette using benzyl benzoate as internal standard and chloroform as solvent. Limits of detection of the method were 5.05-59.68 mg/kg and the relative standard deviation values were less than 5% for all of the seven PAEs. The recovery values were between 74.1% to 120.3%. The method was applied to analyze 7 phthalate esters in fifty four kinds of tear tapes. The experimental results showed that 10 samples were found to contain one PAEs, and only one sample was found to contain the total of PAEs which was higher than European standards, 1 000 mg/kg.