Procedural Challenges in the Analysis of Toxic Metals in Electronic Cannabinoid Delivery System Aerosols Produced for Vaping Cannabinoids

ABSTRACT Various methods have been used in successful and unsuccessful attempts to collect aerosols from electronic cigarettes and cannabis vaping systems over the last ten years for the purpose of assessing the possibility for potentially harmful exposures. Development of an appropriate trapping method for the analysis of metals in aerosols is one of the more challenging tasks for inorganic analytical chemists. Concentrations of many potentially harmful metal constituents of the aerosols generated by these devices are relatively low (µg/g range), so analysts must control environmental contamination of metals in trapped aerosol from the collection devices and ancillary materials used during sample preparation. The issue of contamination makes the use of materials commonly used to trap samples for organic constituents inappropriate for accurate and reliable measurement of metal constituents. In the search for appropriate trapping materials and methods, several approaches have failed because of other problems such as resistance to airflow that is necessary to activate the devices and form an aerosol. This white paper will review selected approaches to trapping aerosols for analysis of metal constituents with appropriate materials and identify problems that have been solved or that remain to be solved before the development of an ideal high-throughput method for aerosol metals analysis. Note: The incentive for this study came out of the Vape Device Safety and Testing Work Group, which is an initiative of the ASTM D37.08, Subcommittee on Personal/Household-Use Cannabis Devices and Appliances.