Simultaneous determination of moisture, 1,2-propanediol, glycerol and menthol in tobacco products using GC‒TCD&FID in parallel method

Moisture, 1,2-propanediol, and glycerol are crucial quality indicators that often require simultaneous determination during the production and application of novel tobacco products and reconstituted tobacco leaves. However, the inability to accurately measure these components simultaneously poses a significant challenge. This study innovatively proposes the use of GC-TCD&FID for the simultaneous determination of moisture, 1,2-propanediol, glycerol and menthol. The results showed that: (1) The standard curves of the four components had good linearity ( the correlation coefficient R ² for water > 0.995, and R ² for the three alcohols > 0.999), with recoveries ranging from 94.49–102.83%, repeatability RSD ranging from 1.25–2.33%, limits of detection for water was 0.32mg/mL and limits of detection for the three alcohols ranging from 0.04mg/mL to 0.21mg/mL. (2) The process of sample pretreatment and GC analysis has been consolidated from two separate steps into one, thereby reducing the workload, the consumption of reagents and time required for both sample pretreatment and GC analysis by about 50%, and anhydrous ethanol instead of methanol was used as the solvent, meeting the requirements for green, low‒carbon, and sustainable development. This method has been validated and applied for one year, meeting the production requirements.