Statistical Analysis for Comparison of the Results Obtained by Capillary Columns and Packed Columns in the Determination of Water Yield in Smoke Condensates Analyzed in Cigarettes for the 24th Asia Collaborative Study

Summary Recently, capillary columns have been widely used in the methodology for the determination of water yields in smoke condensate, even though ISO 10362-1:1999, “Cigarettes - Determination of water in smoke condensates – Part 1: Gas chromatographic method” specifies a packed gas chromatographic column. As a result of a systematic review in 2015, ISO/TC126 decided to revise the standard to include the use of capillary columns. The goal of this study was to confirm the comparability of water yields obtained from capillary column methodology to those yields from packed columns by the statistical analysis of yield data from the 24th Asia Collaborative Study which included 86 datasets submitted by 64 laboratories. After the exclusion of outliers by Cochran’s and Grubbs’ tests, the datasets were classified by GC column type and then mean water yields, and their repeatability and reproducibility were calculated for each type of column. No significant differences were observed in water yields between capillary and packed columns. Repeatability and reproducibility of water yields using capillary column were comparable to those using packed columns as described in ISO 10362-1:1999. From these results, it was confirmed that the capillary columns are an appropriate alternative to packed columns for the gas chromatographic procedure described in ISO 10362-1:1999.