Surface plasmons resonance technique for the detection of nicotine in cigarette smoke

We have employed the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) as a sensor technique for the selective detection of nicotine in real time. The SPR was generated via a prism coupler in a Kretschmann configuration where Ag films of thickness 40 to 42.5 +/- 0.5 nm were evaporated on the base of the prism. The active material for the interaction with nicotine is a thin film of dioctyl plithalate (DOP) with sodium-tetraphenylborate or DOP with nicotine-tetraphenylborate or DOP only deposited on the Ag film. The angular scan for attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectra shows a shift of the SPR maximum coupling angle and a broadening of the Lorentzian line shape, due to the interaction of nicotine molecules with the active layer. The observed data shows that the SPR technique is a fast and accurate method for the detection of nicotine in air due to cigarette smoke. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.