Fibers susceptibility to contamination by environmental tobacco smoke markers

Textiles are characterized by a diversified and relatively high susceptibility to sorption of volatile substances and may influence indoor air quality. The aim of this study was investigation the susceptibility of fibers to sorption of two environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) markers: nicotine and 3-ethenylpyridine (3-EP) and changes in concentrations of these substances in fibers under light exposure. For this purpose, we used non-colored, natural and synthetic fibers, which had not been subjected to any modification. It was observed that nicotine as pure or as one of the ingredients of ETS was adsorbed on the surface of all of the used fibers, and cotton and polypropylene fibers adsorbed it more than other fibers. 3-EP (in ETS) was adsorbed by synthetic fibers and when we used high concentrations of 3-EP in the air it was adsorbed on the surface of cotton fibers in the presence of synthetic fibers. The greatest susceptibility for simultaneous sorption of nicotine and 3-EP (in ETS) was observed for polypropylene fibers. Results show that nicotine is a better marker for ETS contamination of textile materials than 3-EP.