posted on 2021-05-21, 13:37authored byRuwini
D Rajapaksha, Mina W. Tehrani, Ana M. Rule, Charles C. Harb
Growing demand of Juul and other
electronic cigarettes, despite
critical knowledge gaps about their chemical composition, has led
to concerns regarding their potential health effects. We introduce
a novel analytical approach, runtime cavity ringdown spectroscopy
(rtCRDS) for rapid detection of oxidative products in e-cigarette
aerosols, to facilitate the study of aerosol from a single puff of
e-liquid. We report a systematic investigation of three flavors of
commercial Juul pods (Virginia tobacco, mango, and menthol) and known
commercial e-liquid ingredients (propylene glycol (PG), vegetable
glycerin (VG), nicotine, ethyl maltol, benzoic acid, and nicotine
benzoate) vaped using Juul devices. Juul e-liquids and neat chemical
additives spiked into a 30:70 PG/VG solution were vaped and their
aerosols were collected in 1-L Tedlar gas bags and analyzed using
rtCRDS. Acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, and acetone were identified as
primary oxidative products in aerosolized PG/VG. Ethanol was detected
as a major constituent of the three commercial Juul flavors. Spectral
intensities of carbonyl compounds increased with the addition of spikes,
benzoic acid, ethyl maltol, and nicotine to PG/VG, suggesting that
oxidative product generation increases with common additives. The
method of direct, rapid analysis of e-cig aerosols introduced here
can be used to complement traditional methods in vaping exposures.