Isolation of Aflatoxin-Related Substance From Tobacco

Abstract

None of the known aflatoxins were isolated from 21 tobacco products and 14 alcoholic beverages analyzed by chloroform and acetone extraction, preparative and thin layer chromatography, ultraviolet and fluorescence emission analysis, and melting point determinations. One sample of tobacco and tobacco tar did contain small quantities of a coumarin chemically closely related to aflatoxin B₂. This substance (T₂) is lethal for chicken embryos, with a potency of approximately 1/89 that of aflatoxin B₁ and two thirds that of aflatoxin B₂; T₂ apparently survives the smoking process, raising the possibility that it may contribute to cigarette-related carcinogenesis. The possibility that aflatoxin contamination of crops utilized in the preparation of alcoholic beverages might contribute to alcohol-related hepatic cirrhosis and hepatoma was not substantiated in this study.