A Quick Look at Vitamin E Acetate Screening on the Raptor ARC-18

There’s been a lot of focused on vaping crisis and the potential culprit causing dozens of deaths in the United States.  The CDC believes Vitamin E Acetate might be the common linker in these cases.  Vitamin E derived oils are sometimes used as a thickening agent or to dilute THC and increase profits.¹ Normally, Vitamin E is not harmful at low levels when ingested or applied as a topical in lotions.  However, when inhaled, this compound could potentially compromise lung functions.²

Therefore, cannabis labs are interested in screening for Vitamin E Acetate to help evaluate the quality of vaping products and protect the safety of the consumer.  Most states that have legalized some form of cannabis have established regulations for potency, pesticides, mycotoxins, and residual solvents.  However, Vitamin E acetate is not regulated within the market YET.

So, we wanted to take a quick look at one potential route to analyzing this compound.   Rather than having to develop another standalone method for just this one compound, we wanted to see if we could keep things simple and easy for you.  Justin Steimling who developed Restek’s 19 cannabinoids workflow (chromatogram LC_GN0601) went back into the lab to see how well this compound could be added to the method.

The total analysis time is 15 minutes.  Since the method ends on 98% acetonitrile, the backpressure was kept below 400 bar even after increasing the flow to 0.8 mL/min after CBT.  The revised method includes both a column flushing procedure into the method and it allows for the simultaneous measurement of 19 cannabinoids and vitamin E acetate.

This analysis still allows for quantification of Vitamin E acetate as part of a modified potency analysis. We’re continuing to look at other methods for rapidly screening for Vitamin E Acetate as interest in this compound continues to develop.

 

1. “Breakthrough in CDC vaping illness investigation: Vitamin E acetate linked to THC may be to blame”, CNN, Nov. 8^th 2019, Jen Christensen, https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/08/health/vaping-injury-vitamin-e-thc-bn/index.html
2. “In a breakthrough, health officials identify possible culprit behind vaping illnesses: vitamin E acetate”, STAT, Nov. 8^th 2019, Megan Thielking, https://www.statnews.com/2019/11/08/vaping-illnesses-vitamin-e-acetate/