Comprehensive chemical characterization of the aerosol generated by a heated tobacco product by untargeted screening

A suite of untargeted methods has been applied for the characterization of aerosol from the Tobacco Heating System 2.2 (THS2.2), a heated tobacco product developed by Philip Morris Products S.A. and commercialized under the brand name IQOS ®. A total of 529 chemical constituents, excluding water, glycerin, and nicotine, were present in the mainstream aerosol of THS2.2, generated by following the Health Canada intense smoking regimen, at concentrations ≥ 100 ng/item. The majority were present in the particulate phase ( n = 402), representing more than 80% of the total mass determined by untargeted screening; a proportion were present in both particulate and gas-vapor phases (39 compounds). The identities for 80% of all chemical constituents (representing > 96% of the total determined mass) were confirmed by the use of authentic analytical reference materials. Despite the uncertainties that are recognized to be associated with aerosol-based untargeted approaches, the reported data remain indicative that the uncharacterized fraction of TPM generated by THS2.2 has been evaluated to the fullest practicable extent. To the best of our knowledge, this work represents the most comprehensive chemical characterization of a heated tobacco aerosol to date. Graphical abstract