Stable Isotope Analysis of Components from Tobacco Leaves

✍ Scribed by Eric Jamin; Norbert Naulet; Gérard J. Martin

• Book ID: 101283489
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 129 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0958-0344
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1565(199705)8:3<105::aid-pca348>3.0.co;2-j

✦ Synopsis

An analytical strategy allowing isotope effect-free isolation of nicotine, organic acids, sugars and cellulose from dry tobacco leaves has been developed. Nicotine was isolated by ether extraction and purified by preparative normal-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Sugars and organic acids were extracted with water, purified by two clean-up steps, and separated from each other by an anion exchange process. Finally, pure L-malic and citric acids were isolated by preparative reversed-phase HPLC. Pure ␣-cellulose was obtained after successive steps allowing complete removal of the other components of the leaf. This method has been applied to the stable isotope analysis of tobacco samples from different origins. Systematic deviations between the carbon isotope ratios of all components and between the overall deuterium content of nicotine and non-exchangeable sites of cellulose were observed, supporting the hypothesis of reproducible isotope effects induced by the metabolism of a given plant species. Differences between samples may be attributed to different environmental conditions during the biosynthesis of organic matter.