Vaping THC-O Acetate: Potential for Another EVALI Epidemic.

Benowitz, Neal L.; Havel, Christopher; Jacob, Peyton; O'Shea, Donal F.; Wu, Dan; Fowles, Jefferson

As the aryl acetate moieties found in both THC-O-acetate and VEA are structurally similar, it could be anticipated that their thermally induced chemical reactivity would also be alike (Fig. THC-O-acetate, also called "THC-O", is a synthetic cannabinoid that is purported to be more potent than SP 9 sp -tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive constituent of marijuana. This brief report is to alert the public health community to the confirmed presence of SP 8 sp -THC-O acetate in commercially available vaping products and the potential risk of pulmonary toxicity from vaping THC-O. The impetus for this study was the presence of the aryl acetate moiety in THC-O. Mass spectrometry (MS) evidence and activation energy (AE) calculations indicating that vaping of THC-O is likely to generate ketene, a suspected cause of lung injury, are provided.

ELECTRONIC cigarettes; E-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injuries; ACETATES; SCIENTIFIC literature; GAS chromatography/Mass spectrometry (GC-MS); PHENYLACETATES

Journal of Medical Toxicology, 2023, Vol 19, Issue 1, p37

1556-9039

Academic Journal

10.1007/s13181-022-00921-3