Vitamin E Acetate Determination in Vaping Liquids and Non-targeted Analysis of Vaping Emissions of Diluents of Concern, Vitamin E Acetate and Medium-Chain Triglycerides Oil

Ivana Kosarac; Cariton Kubwabo; Guru Prasad Katuri; Dora Petraccone; Trevor K Mischki

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.756745

Vitamin E Acetate Determination in Vaping Liquids and Non-targeted Analysis of Vaping Emissions of Diluents of Concern, Vitamin E Acetate and Medium-Chain Triglycerides Oil

Front Chem. 2021 Dec 13:9:756745. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.756745. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ivana Kosarac¹, Cariton Kubwabo², Guru Prasad Katuri², Dora Petraccone¹, Trevor K Mischki¹

Affiliations

¹ Office of Research and Surveillance, Tobacco Control Directorate, Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
² Exposure and Biomonitoring Division, Environmental and Radiation Sciences Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Abstract

During the summer of 2019, cases of lung injury associated with vaping emerged in North America, including among individuals who reported exclusive use of nicotine vaping liquids. Once vitamin E acetate was identified as a potential causative agent a quantitative method based on a simple sample dilution, separation by gas chromatography and analysis by triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC MSMS) was developed. Method detection limit (MDL) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined at 0.159 µg/mL and 0.505 µg/mL, respectively. The analysis was performed on a subset of 203 commercially sourced nicotine containing vaping liquids of various flavour profile and nicotine range (nicotine free-59 mg/mL) from an internal inventory. The target analyte, Vitamin E Acetate, was not detected in any samples analyzed, as expected, given the reported detection in literature and high association of the chemical with cannabis and not nicotine containing vaping products.

Keywords: aerosol; cannabis; emission; gc ms; medium chain triglycerides; nicotine; vaping; vitamin E acetate.