Oxidant/catalyst nanoparticles to reduce tobacco smoke constituents such as carbon monoxide

Abstract

Cut filler compositions, cigarettes, methods for making cigarettes and methods for smoking cigarettes are provided, which involve the use of nanoparticle additives capable of reducing at least one constituent from mainstream and/or sidestream tobacco smoke, the at least one constituent being selected from the group consisting of aldehyde, carbon monoxide, 1,3-butadiene, isoprene, acrolein, acrylonitrile, hydrogen cyanide, o-toluidine, 2-naphtylamine, nitrogen oxide, benzene, N-nitrosonornicotine, phenol, catechol, benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, and mixtures thereof. Preferably, the nanoparticle additives are effective as an oxidant for the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and/or as a catalyst for the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and/or catalyst for conversion of aldehydes such as acetaldehyde and acrolein, hydrocarbons such as isoprene and/or phenolic compounds such as catechol to carbon dioxide and water vapor. Methods for making a cigarette are provided, which involve (i) adding a nanoparticle additive to a cut filler; (ii) providing the cut filler comprising the additive to a cigarette making machine to form a tobacco rod; and (iii) placing a paper wrapper around the tobacco rod to form the cigarette. Further, methods of smoking the cigarette described above are described, which involve lighting the cigarette to form smoke and drawing the smoke through the cigarette, wherein during the smoking of the cigarette, the additive is capable of reducing at least one constituent from mainstream and/or sidestream tobacco smoke.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.