Smoking article including a filter for selectively removing carbonyls

The present invention relates generally to a smoking article including a filter for selectively removing carbonyl-containing combustion products from main stream smoke and, more particularly, a filter for selectively removing carbonyl-containing combustion products, including at least one carrier having a developed structure including a plurality of moieties capable of the nucleophilic attack of carbonyl-containing combustion products. A smoking article including a wrapper surrounding a tobacco column and a selective filter element is disclosed. The selective filter element includes at least one carrier having a developed structure and a plurality of moieties capable of the nucleophilic attack of carbonyl-containing combustion products of the smoking article supported by the at least one carrier. The selective filter element may include at least one additional filter element such as cellulose acetate. The developed structure of the at least one carrier encourages the interaction of the carbonyl-containing combustion products and the plurality of moieties capable of the nucleophilic attack. Carries include polymers, which may have branch, such as partially oxidized cellulose and polyaniline. Carries may also be a zeolite or an inorganic oxide such as aluminum, of silicon, of aluminum and silicon, and combinations thereof. In yet another carrier is an activated carbon. A moiety capable of the nucleophillic attack includes a nitrogen and hydrogen containing group such as a hydrazide-(e.g., -NH-NH), a hydrazone-(e.g., -HC N-NH), a semicarbazide-(e.g., -C( O)-NH), an imino-(e.g., -HC NH), and an amino-(-NH). Preferably, the nitrogen is a primary nitrogen such as a primary amino. A spacer may be used to attach the moiety to a carrier. Examples of spacers include at least one of a -CO- group, -CO-[CH]-CO- group with n=1 through 4 and more.