Suresh Ralapati, batf/National Laboratory Center

VI. Conclusions
The physical and molecular properties of nicotine have provided the analyst with a host of opportunities for qualitative and quantitative analysis. During the last fifty years, analytical methods reported for nicotine determination have evolved considerably, employing the newest instrumental analysis techniques of the day. In addition to its unique physical and molecular properties that provide many different qualitative analysis opportunities, nicotine is an ideal molecule for quantitative analysis. It is a significant component of the tobacco leaf, often representing more than 98% of the total alkaloid content in tobacco.

Nicotine analysis of tobacco has been conducted for many purposes. The chemical composition of tobacco crops varies from growing season to growing season and from one geographical region to the next. Tobacco nicotine analysis provides one means of characterizing new tobacco crops and understanding the raw material that will be included in final products. The research and development of new tobacco breeding lines also requires tobacco nicotine and secondary tobacco alkaloid analyses. The smoking quality of different tobacco varieties has been related to the alkaloid distribution found in the leaf. Another area in which the determination of tobacco nicotine has been of critical importance is the classification of tobacco products for subsequent taxation. The presence and location of nicotine within the components of a smoking article are critical to whether the smoking article is classified as a cigarette, cigar or non-tobacco product, and to the amount of tax that is levied by the federal government.

The legislative and regulatory history of tobacco control efforts is a substantial and varied topic that has been considered by all levels of government. Tobacco legislation and regulation has been enacted for many different purposes. There has been a steady progression of legislation and regulations dealing with tobacco products at the federal, state and local level. Tobacco control efforts have directly affected consumers in many ways. Taxation and restrictions on the use of tobacco products, particularly cigarettes, have greatly reduced the number of people that use tobacco products and the per capita use level. The determination of nicotine in tobacco products has been a specified requirement for a basis of taxation at the federal government level for many years. Since 1996, however, the determination of nicotine in tobacco has become a specific requirement in some state regulations. With this new requirement, the scope and limitations of analytical methods used for the determination of tobacco nicotine analysis are being carefully considered.

This chapter has dealt with three topics, the determinations of nicotine in tobacco, nicotine in tobacco processing environments (concentrating primarily with processes in the cigarette industry), and regulatory aspects dealing with nicotine in tobacco products. The first topic presented was an historical perspective of the progress of researchers in tobacco science and achievements in analytical chemistry made in the determination of alkaloids in tobacco (particularly nicotine) from 1826 to present. Three examples of current laboratory practices for the determination of nicotine in tobacco were summarized. The second part of this chapter, on nicotine in tobacco processing environments, described tobacco processing that occur within the tobacco industry, mainly the cigarette industry, and the determinations of nicotine that have been made in the individual process streams. The third part of this chapter highlighted the current legislative and regulatory issues concerning the determinations of nicotine in tobacco and tobacco products.