The national outbreak of vaping-associated lung injuries (EVALI) in 2019 was indicative of the dangers presented by vaping. Since then, there has been evidence to suggest that vitamin E acetate (VEA) found in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing cartridges may be the root cause of these cases. Recent studies have found that during the vaping process, VEA can be degraded into emission products such as duroquinone, ketene, or 1-pristene, which are more toxic than the parent liquid. However, the role of heating coil temperature and the e-cigarette device itself on the thermal decomposition of VEA and the distribution of resulting products has not been fully established. In this study, we investigated the formation of decomposition products at varying vaping temperatures. VEA vaping emissions were generated at temperatures ranging between 176 and 356 °C and analyzed using gas chromatography /mass spectrometry with electron ionization (GC-EIMS). Pure pyrolysis of VEA without the influence of the cartridge coil was also investigated by generating degradation products at varying temperatures using a tube furnace. We observed that as temperature increases, the production of certain compounds such as duroquinone increases exponentially, while others appear to break down further into lower molecular weight products. Furthermore, the product distribution of vape-produced and pure pyrolysis-induced VEA emissions show clear differences. Whereas we observe significant degradation of vaped VEA at 176 °C, pure pyrolysis does not result in a substantial breakdown of the oil until 322 °C, suggesting that the coil surface may act to catalyze VEA degradation during vaping. The results from this study highlight the risk of vaping at the foreground by exposing the potential toxicity of vaping emissions and the shift in product distribution at common user temperatures. Additionally, these results can potentially support implications in vaping devices, user behavior, and vaping safety.

Temperature dependence of emission product distribution from vaping of vitamin E acetate

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.