Potential for Release of Pulmonary Toxic Ketene from Vaping Pyrolysis of Vitamin E Acetate

06 December 2019, Version 2
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently reported an increasing number of clinically reported cases of lung injury following use of e-cigarette/vaping products. The cause(s) of this growing epidemic of vaping associated pulmonary injury remain unidentified, though vitamin E acetate has been recently identified as one possible causative agent (see Nature 574, 303 (2019). A combined analytical, theoretical and experimental study has shown that the vaping of vitamin E acetate has the potential to produce exceptionally toxic ketene gas, which may be a contributing factor to the upsurge in lung injuries associated with using some vaping products.

Keywords

Vitamin E acetate
ketene
vaping
pyrolysis
lung injury
pulmonary toxic
APCI-MS
DFT calculations
NMR analysis
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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