Comparison of carbonyls emitted from conventional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products

Abstract

Conventional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) emit a wide number of chemical substances which are inhaled by the user. An extended bibliographic analysis of the available data concerning carbonyls identity and quantity in tobacco products gas emissions was performed. Published works in Scopus and Pubmed databases from 2010 until 2020, in English language, were used in order to collect the data, using specific keywords. The number of carbonyls detected in the emissions of conventional cigarettes' is 43 (97 articles are included), 33 in e-cigs' (70 articles included) and 62 in HTPs' (50 articles included). Nineteen compounds are present in emissions of all three tobacco products. Their emitted concentration is generally higher in the case of conventional cigarettes compared to the other two products, except from 5-methylfurfural and methylglyoxal that had the higher concentrations in HTPs, plus benzaldehyde and formaldehyde that had higher concentrations in e-cigs. However, HTPs has the higher number of unique carbonyls emitted.