Chemist E-smokers out there?

[TeeFour]

Hey all, I've been vaping on and off for a year and a half now, and have decided to go electronic full time and finally joined this forum. I'm an organic chemist (which probably greatly adds to my interest in e-cigs) and I was wondering if there were any other chemist e-smokers out there. Particularly any that have tested juices themselves. The lab tests I have seen of e-juice (such as this one for Johnson Creek, my personal favorite) does not contain all the data I would like to see. For instance, that report shows the GC spectra, but lacks the MS data. I'm considering taking TLC of some juice to see if a column would be quick to run, with the intention of taking NMR of the separate compounds to absolutely confirm the ingredients are what they should be. My only hesitation is my superior finding out I used a $300k machine to test e-juice Maybe I'll bring it up with her first, though. If I do, I'll write up a semi-professional report and post it on ECF. But no promises, lab is busy these days.

 

[Rosco]

Sounds like a plan.

 

[ckc]

This maybe the place to find 'em

Nicotine

Welcome to ECF !

 

[mano932]

This sounds great please keep us updated

 

[Phil McRotch]

Ooh..chemistry. I'm not one myself, but I am interested in it. Definitely keep us posted on findings.

 

[Joey S]

I'd be very interested in the findings myself. I'd do it myself if I had the know-how and equipment. Please keep up posted.

 

[Big Sheepherder]

You are among the best members this forum could hope to have in terms of that which you, together with some medical information, might be able to tell us. Thank you for joining.

 

[deusXmchna]

I'll raise my hand halfway. I'm more a biochemist, but thought myself a completely competant chemist... before I sat for a week and read everything Dvap wrote. He's the boards Uber-Chemist, or at least the most prolific posting, and intimidating one . There was another guy that I corresponded with shortly that was also a professional chemist, but I forgot his username offhand.

Another Uber-Chemist would be great. Because (as you know, as a scientist) more scientists=better science.

Welcome! I look forward to sponging off of your knowledge, and hopefully the results of the equipment at your disposal!

 

[TeeFour]

Glad to get such a strong response! And thanks for the link, ckc, I'll be sure to check out those threads. Like I said, I'm pretty busy with other work at the moment, and taking full NMR analysis of e-juice would take a while, given the number of compounds in ejuice (PG, VG, glycerol, nicotine, citric acid as a preservative, and then however many flavor compounds are added.) For those who don't know, NMR spectra give peaks corresponding to different hydrogens on a compound. The shape and location of these peaks allows you to determine an exact chemical structure, unlike GC/MS. But I may at least run my own GC/MS analysis, which would be much quicker. This will show the number of separate compounds in in the ejuice, as well as give the molecular weight for each compound. Peaks for PG, VG, etc will be pretty obvious since they will be massive, but the small peaks for nicotine and flavor compounds will be tough to distinguish between what is desired and any contaminants, as different compounds can have the same molecular weight, and I doubt any ejuice company will give me a list of the specific flavors added, as it would be a closely guarded trade secret. But I'll do what I can, and if I find the time to run these tests, I'll definitely let you all know.

Until then, if anyone has any e-cig chemistry questions, I'm glad to answer to the best of my knowledge.