Development and validation of a HS/GC-MS method for the simultaneous analysis of diacetyl and acetylpropionyl in electronic cigarette refills.

The use of e-cigarettes as alternative for tobacco cigarettes has become increasingly popular, even though their safety has not yet been scientifically established. One of the frequently raised concerns is the potential toxicity of certain flavours present in the e-liquids, such as diacetyl and acetylpropionyl. It is therefore important to be able to identify and quantify both compounds. Numerous analytical methods have been published for determining e-liquid compositions, but concerns exist with respect to the lack of analytical evaluation. Hence in this study, a new HS/GC-MS-based method was developed for the screening and quantification of diacetyl and acetylpropionyl in e-liquids. This method was fully validated using the 'total error' approach. The LOQ of the analytical method was 5ppm for diacetyl and acetylpropionyl. The obtained accuracy profiles show that the β-expectation tolerance intervals did not exceed the acceptance limits of±10%, meaning that 95% of future measurements will be included in the [-10%, 10%] bias limits. As proof of applicability, the validated method was successfully applied on a small set of e-liquid samples, indicating that this methodology could be used for routine quality control analyses of e-liquids.