The analysis of cannabinoids in e-cigarette liquids using LC-HRAM-MS and LC-UV.

The use of cannabidiol or CBD products has skyrocketed in the last five years due to the alleged therapeutic benefits, a low potential for abuse and lack of the typical psychoactive effects associated with the use of cannabis products containing high levels of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THC). In Belgium, CBD-containing e-liquids with a total THC content lower than 0.2% (w/w) are currently legal.

Identification of flavouring substances of genotoxic concern present in e-cigarette refills.

E-cigarettes have become very popular, a trend that has been stimulated by the wide variety of available e-liquid flavours. Considering the large number of e-liquid flavours (>7000), there is an urgent need to establish a screening strategy to prioritize the flavouring substances of highest concern for human health. In the present study, a prioritization strategy combining analytical screening, in silico tools and literature data was developed to identify potentially genotoxic e-liquid flavourings.

Impact of the Revised European Tobacco Product Directive on the Quality of E-cigarette Refill Liquids in Belgium.

Introduction: Since its introduction, the e-cigarette has become a commonly used consumer product. In this study, we investigate whether regulatory changes had an impact on the quality of refill liquids (e-liquids) available on the Belgian market through analysis of their chemical composition. Hence, the nicotine concentration accuracy was investigated in samples before, during and after the implementation of the revised Tobacco Product Directive (TPD) as an indicator of good manufacturing practices.

A simple dilute-and-shoot method for screening and simultaneous quantification of nicotine and alkaloid impurities in electronic cigarette refills (e-liquids) by UHPLC-DAD.

The electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) has emerged as a popular alternative to the traditional hazardous tobacco cigarette. The substantial increase in e-cigarette use also urgently calls for controlling the quality of e-cigarette refill liquid products (e-liquids). Currently, the most important quality indicator of e-liquid products is the quantification of nicotine and its related impurities.

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.

In vitro Dermal Absorption of Hydroquinone: Protocol Validation and Applicability on Illegal Skin-Whitening Cosmetics.

In Europe, hydroquinone is a forbidden cosmetic ingredient. It is, however, still abundantly used because of its effective skin-whitening properties. The question arises as to whether the quantities of hydroquinone used become systemically available and may cause damage to human health.

Testing of complementarity of PDA and MS detectors using chromatographic fingerprinting of genuine and counterfeit samples containing sildenafil citrate.

Counterfeit medicines are a global threat to public health. High amounts enter the European market, which is why characterization of these products is a very important issue. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array (HPLC-PDA) and high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method were developed for the analysis of genuine Viagra®, generic products of Viagra®, and counterfeit samples in order to obtain different types of fingerprints.

Physical profiling and IR spectroscopy: simple and effective methods to discriminate between genuine and counterfeit samples of Viagra® and Cialis®.

Counterfeit medicines are a global threat to public health. High amounts enter the European market, enforcing the need for simple techniques to help customs detect these pharmaceuticals. This study focused on physical profiling and IR spectroscopy to obtain a prime discrimination between genuine and illegal Viagra® and Cialis® medicines.

Analysis of illegal peptide biopharmaceuticals frequently encountered by controlling agencies.

Recent advances in genomics, recombinant expression technologies and peptide synthesis have led to an increased development of protein and peptide therapeutics. Unfortunately this goes hand in hand with a growing market of counterfeit and illegal biopharmaceuticals, including substances that are still under pre-clinical and clinical development. These counterfeit and illegal protein and peptide substances could imply severe health threats as has been demonstrated by numerous case reports.

In vitro Dermal Absorption: Sample Application and Seal Quality in a Franz Diffusion Cell System.

One of the known drawbacks of in vitro dermal absorption methods is their high interlaboratory variation. Although often attributed to biological skin differences, it has been shown that validation of other parameters such as temperature and stirring speed can reduce the high variability observed. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and, at the EU level, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) have published guidance documents of how to perform these in vitro tests.

Chromatography in the detection and characterization of illegal pharmaceutical preparations.

Counterfeit and illegal pharmaceutical products are an increasing worldwide problem and constitute a major challenge for analytical laboratories to detect and characterize them. Spectroscopic techniques such as infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy have always been the first methods of choice to detect counterfeits and illegal preparations, but due to the evolution in the seized products and the necessity of risk assessment, chromatographic methods are becoming more important in this domain. This review intends to give a general overview of the techniques described in literature to characterize counterfeit and illegal pharmaceutical preparations, focusing on the role of chromatographic techniques with different detection tools.

Development and validation of a ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-UV method for the detection and quantification of erectile dysfunction drugs and some of their analogues found in counterfeit medicines.

Pharmaceutical counterfeiting is a permanently growing problem. Control laboratories are constantly analysing counterfeit medicines. In industrialised countries, one of the main counterfeited class of medicines are erectile dysfunction drugs.

Impurity fingerprints for the identification of counterfeit medicines--a feasibility study.

Most of the counterfeit medicines are manufactured in non good manufacturing practices (GMP) conditions by uncontrolled or street laboratories. Their chemical composition and purity of raw materials may, therefore, change in the course of time. The public health problem of counterfeit drugs is mostly due to this qualitative and quantitative variability in their formulation and impurity profiles.

Detection of counterfeit Viagra® by Raman microspectroscopy imaging and multivariate analysis.

During the past years, pharmaceutical counterfeiting was mainly a problem of developing countries with weak enforcement and inspection programs. However, Europe and North America are more and more confronted with the counterfeiting problem. During this study, 26 counterfeits and imitations of Viagra® tablets and 8 genuine tablets of Viagra® were analysed by Raman microspectroscopy imaging.

Comparison and combination of spectroscopic techniques for the detection of counterfeit medicines.

During this study, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and Raman spectroscopy were applied to 55 samples of counterfeit and imitations of Viagra and 39 samples of counterfeit and imitations of Cialis. The aim of the study was to investigate which of these techniques and associations of them were the best for discriminating genuine from counterfeit and imitation samples. Only the regions between 1800-400 cm(-1) and 7000-4000 cm(-1) were used for FT-IR and NIR spectroscopy respectively.