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Irwin Schmeltz, Kaolin G. Chiong, Dietrich Hoffmann, Formation and Determination of Ethyl Carbamate in Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke, Journal of Analytical Toxicology, Volume 2, Issue 6, November-December 1978, Pages 265–268, https://doi.org/10.1093/jat/2.6.265
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Abstract
Maleic hydrazide (MH), a plant growth regulator applied to tobacco, undergoes thermal degradation to isocyanic acid. In model pyrolysis studies, ethanol and methanol (both present in tobacco and tobacco smoke) react with isocyanic acid to give ethyl carbamate (urethan, an animal carcinogen) and methyl carbamate. Two solvent partition steps, column chromatography, and GC/MS constitute the method used to identify and quantitate ethyl carbamate in tobacco smoke. The smoke of MH-treated and untreated tobaccos contained comparable amounts of ethyl carbamate, 20–38 ng/cigarette. Similarly, treated and untreated tobaccos showed no major difference in ethyl carbamate levels (310 and 375 ng/g, respectively). The method should be useful for the analysis of urethan in other environmental materials.