Abstract
ACETONITRILE (methyl cyanide) has been identified in the body fluids of smokers while it is essentially absent in the body fluids of non-smokers1. This work indicated that urine acetonitrile content may provide a more accurate measure of the actual degree of exposure to tobacco smoke than the number of cigarettes smoked, or other similar measures commonly used. Therefore, it became desirable to determine the source of this compound; namely, whether it came from the cigarette smoke itself or was produced in the body as a derivative of some other smoke constituent. Tobacco smoke was then examined for acetonitrile specifically, rather than for its broad spectrum of components.
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References
McKee, Rhoades, Campbell and Gross, Public Health Rep., 77, 553 (1962).
Bentley and Burgan, Cigarette Smoke Condensate: Preparation and Routine Laboratory Estimation, second ed. (Tobacco Manufacturers' Standing Committee, London).
Rhoades, Food Res., 23, 254 (1958).
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CAMPBELL, J., RHOADES, J. & GROSS, A. Acetonitrile as a Constituent of Cigarette Smoke. Nature 198, 991–992 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/198991b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/198991b0
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