Introduction

　　Benzene and its alkyl derivatives toluene, ethylbenzene,and xylene (BTEX) have been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a strong carcinogens causing cancer affecting human skin, lungs, and the nervous system [1].

　　Quality control of in the cigarette filter manufacturing process is a critical procedure for the tobacco industry.The employed reagents, accessories and raw filter material used in the production process may be the source of residual BTEX contamination, and hence require quality control for such potentially harmful contaminations.Therefore, the BTEX monitoring of cigarette filters in the tobacco industry has a significant impact on the choice and quality of filter materials.

　　China is by far the largest tobacco producing country today, distantly followed by Europe, North America and Latin America [2]. In China the directive YC/T 373-2010 for the control of propylene and C-fiber filter material from 2010 requires the analysis of BTEX residue contaminations by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) [3]. The YC/T 373-2010 standard has high sensitivity requirements for the detection of BTEX. In this application note, we employ the method used in TC/T 373-2010 with the Thermo ScientificTM ISQTM GC-MS for detection of BTEX compounds in propylene fiber cigarette filters.