Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
  • A24B15/00—Chemical features or treatment of tobacco; Tobacco substitutes, e.g. in liquid form
  • A24B15/18—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes
  • A24B15/24—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by extraction; Tobacco extracts
  • A24B15/241—Extraction of specific substances
  • A24B15/243—Nicotine
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
  • A24B15/00—Chemical features or treatment of tobacco; Tobacco substitutes, e.g. in liquid form
  • A24B15/18—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes
  • A24B15/28—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by chemical substances
  • A24B15/30—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by chemical substances by organic substances
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
  • A24B15/00—Chemical features or treatment of tobacco; Tobacco substitutes, e.g. in liquid form
  • A24B15/18—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes
  • A24B15/28—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by chemical substances
  • A24B15/30—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by chemical substances by organic substances
  • A24B15/32—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by chemical substances by organic substances by acyclic compounds

Definitions

• the present invention relates to smoking tobacco which when burned produces smoke having a reduced nicotine and carcinogenic tar content and, further, to a method for the production of such tobacco.
• a method for the treatment of tobacco has now been discovered which materially reduces the amount of nicotine and carcinogenic tars volatilized into the tobacco smoke without, however, adversely affecting the taste or aroma of the treated tobacco or reducing the smokers pleasure.
• the new method consists of exposing tobacco, whether in the form of the crude leaf, cased leaf, cased and cut smoking tobacco or finished smoking articles such as cigars and cigarettes, either loose or packaged, to the action of certain lower alkyl halides under mild reaction conditions.
• the term halide is intended to include iodine, bromine and chlorine. Mild reaction conditions, i.e., normal or slightly elevated temperatures and pressures and minimum effective exposure times, are employed to avoid possible damage to the delicate flavor and aroma of the treated tobacco.
• the reduced nicotine and tar content of the smoke from tobacco treated according to the present invention is presumably due to the reaction of the lower alkyl halide treating agents with the nicotine content of the tobacco to form one or more non-volatile, combustible compounds which, when the tobacco is burned, are converted to harmless combustion products, thus preventing volatilization of nicotine and carcinogenic tars into the smoke.
• the alkyl halide treating agents react with the nicotine content of the treated tobacco largely according to the following equation:
• tobacco treated according to the present invention may contain a mixture of nicotine-alkyl halide reaction products including compounds in which the alkyl halide addition has occurred on either one or on both of the nitrogen atoms in the nicotine molecule.
• These agents are employed in the vapor or gaseous phase to assure intimate contact with the tobacco to be treated while minimizing the possibility of aifecting the flavor of the product.
• the lower boiling treating agents which are preferred in general, can be cooled and liquified for ease in handling prior to use and then vaporized in the presence of the tobacco to be treated.
• the higher boiling treating agents while useful are not preferred since relatively high treatment temperatures are required to maintain them in the vapor phase. Further, it is more diflicult to remove excess treating agent from the treated tobacco when the higher boiling compounds are employed.
• the type of halogen present in the treating agent also affects .its usefulness.
• the iodides although useful in the invention and more reactive than the bromides or chlorides, are not recommended since it has been observed that tobacco treated with these compounds has a tendency, when burned, to release small amounts of free iodine into the smoke.
• the chlorides are the least reactive of the three useful halides and therefore require relatively longer reaction times and higher reaction temperatures which tend to affect the flavor of the treated tobacco.
• the bromides and particularly methyl bromide are preferred, therefore, since they are more reactive than the chlorides and yet are not subject to the noted disadvantages of the iodides.
• Methyl chloride which is otherwise a desirable treating agent, is somewhat disadvantageous economically due to its high vapor pressure which necessitates the use of relatively expensive pressure resistant reaction vessels.
• the new method is normally practiced by introducing the lower alkyl halide treating agent to a closed reaction vessel containing tobacco to be treated and maintaining the vessel at normal or elevated temperatures for suflicient time to insure substantially complete treatment of the tobacco.
• Many factors such as the reactivityof the treating agent, reaction temperature and pressure, concentration and amount of treating agent employed and the nicotine content of the tobacco, influence the exposure or reaction time required for satisfactory treatment. In general, however, exposure times varying from about two hours or less to 48 hours are employed and in the majority of cases a reaction time of about 4 to about 20 hours is suflicient.
• Suitable reaction temperatures vary from the lowest temperature'at which an appreciable reaction rate can be obtained with the particular treating agent up to the temperature at whichthe flavor of the tobacco is "seriously affected. Since there is nothing to be gained in most cases from employing temperatures lower than normal or ambient temperatures, the upper temperature limit is the important one. It has been found that about 60 C.isthe practical upper limit of reaction temperature, since higher temperatures, particularly on long exposure, tend to afiect the flavor of the tobacco. The preferred reaction temperatures are about 45 to about 50 sinceithese can be employed with safety and yet are sufliciently high to give a satisfactory reaction 'rate with the preferred treating agents described above.
• temperatures ranging up to about 100 C. can be used. Such reaction temperatures are not, however, generally recommended.
• the amount of lower alkyl halide employed in the present invention varies with the nicotine content of the tobacco to be treated. Since complete elimination of nicotine from tobacco smoke is not required to realize substantial benefits from the invention it is not essential that all of the nicotine in the tobacco be reacted with treating agent. For this reason it is unnecessary to employ the stoichiometric quantitylone mole of treating agent per mole of nicotine) of treating agent in every instance. However, since other factors such as the reaction temperature and exposure time also influence the completeness of the treatment it is usually desirable to employ at least one mole of treating agent for each mole of nicotine present in the sample to be treated.
• the halide treating agents can be employed individually or in mixtures with each other or they can be diluted for use with any suitable inert gas.
• Example I A quantity of cased and cut smoking tobacco suitable for cigarette manufacture is analyzed for nicotine.
• a 2-lb. sample of the tobacco containing 2.8% of nicotine by weight, is packed into a glass container of suflicient volume to just accommodate the charge.
• Approximately 17.3 grams cc.) of methyl b'ror'nide (about 16% excess of stoichiometric) is cooled to about 20 C. in brine and the test tube containing the treating agent is introduced to the tobacco-packed container.
• the mouth of the glass container is then sealed quickly 'byfusion in a flame before the methyl bromide vaporizes from the test tube.
• the sealed container is then placed in a water bath and heated to about 45 C. for 24 hours.
• the container is then removed from the bath, cooled and opened.
• the treated tobacco is fashioned into cigarettes. smoke from these regulator size (7 cm.) cigarettes contains 0.81 mg. of nicotine by weight as compared to a nicotine content of 2.55 mg. for the smoke from similar cigarettes made from untreated tobacco taken from the same lot as the test sample.
• the method of the invention achieved a 68% reduction in the nicotine content of the tobacco smoke.
• Example ll Ten grams of cigarette tobacco is placed in a glasstube and about 0.3 gram of methyl iodide is' added. The
• Example II The treatment of Example II can also be carried out employing 10 grams of cigarette tobacco, 0.4 gram of ethyl iodide and a boiling water bath.
• the tobacco smoke contains about 2.4 mg. of nicotine by weight prior to treatment and 1.1 mg. after treatment; therefore the method of the present invention reduces the nicotine content by about 54%.
• Example IV A commercial scale treatment can be conducted by placing about 200 lbs. of crude tobacco leaf having a nicotine content of about 2.5% by Weight in a low pressure water-jacketed autoclave and adding 2.5 lbs. of cooled ethyl chloride. The autoclave can then be heated to about 55 C. and maintained at that temperature for about 24 hours. The resulting product, when manufactured into cigarettes, would be found to be substan-.
• a dry, gaseous lower alkyl halide alkylating agent selected from the group consisting of methyl and ethyl bromides and chlorides until a substantial proportion of the nicotine in the tobacco chemically reacts with the alkyl halide to form a completely organic nicotine derivative containing a bond between the pyridine nitrogen atom and a carbon atom of
• said nicotine derivative having smoking properties more favorable than nicotine.
• the method of substantially reducing the nicotine content of smoke produced from smoking tobacco during the smoking thereof which comprises subjecting the tobacco, prior to its being smoked, at a temperature of about 45 to 50 C. but not over 60 C. to the action of a dry, gaseous lower alkyl halide alkylating agent selected from the group consisting of methyl and ethyl bromides and chlorides until a substantial proportion of the nicotine in the tobacco chemically reacts with the alkyl halide to form a completely organic nicotine derivative containing a bond between the pyridine nitrogen atom and a carbon atom of the alkyl radical of the alkylating agent and being completely combustible, said nicotine derivative having smoking properties more favorable than nicotine.
• a dry, gaseous lower alkyl halide alkylating agent selected from the group consisting of methyl and ethyl bromides and chlorides until a substantial proportion of the nicotine in the tobacco chemically reacts with the alkyl halide to form a completely organic nicotine derivative containing a

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Toxicology (AREA)
• Manufacture Of Tobacco Products (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=24607293

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (3)

Citations (6)

• 1957
  • 1957-03-27 US US650063A patent/US2985549A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1958
  • 1958-03-27 CH CH5757158A patent/CH365987A/de unknown

Patent Citations (6)

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