Menthol in electronic cigarettes causes biophysical inhibition of pulmonary surfactant was written by Xu, Lu;Yang, Yi;Simien, Jennifer Michelle;Kang, Christopher;Li, Guangle;Xu, Xiaojie;Haglund, Ellinor;Sun, Rui;Zuo, Yi Y.. And the article was included in American Journal of Physiology in 2022.Reference of 57-55-6 This article mentions the following:
With an increasing prevalence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, especially among youth, there is an urgent need to better understand the biol. risks and pathophysiol. of health conditions related to e-cigarettes. A majority of e-cigarette aerosols are in the submicron size and would deposit in the alveolar region of the lung, where they must first interact with the endogenous pulmonary surfactant. To date, little is known whether e-cigarette aerosols have an adverse impact on the pulmonary surfactant. We have systematically studied the effect of individual e-cigarette ingredients on an animal-derived clin. surfactant preparation, bovine lipid extract surfactant, using a combination of biophys. and anal. techniques, including in vitro biophys. simulations using constrained drop surfactometry, mol. imaging with at. force microscopy, chem. assays using carbon NMR and CD, and in silico mol. dynamics simulations. All data collectively suggest that flavorings used in e-cigarettes, especially menthol, play a predominant role in inhibiting the biophys. function of the surfactant. The mechanism of biophys. inhibition appears to involve menthol interactions with both phospholipids and hydrophobic proteins of the natural surfactant. These results provide novel insights into the understanding of the health impact of e-cigarettes and may contribute to better regulation of e-cigarette products. In the experiment, the researchers used many compounds, for example, 1,2-Propanediol (cas: 57-55-6Reference of 57-55-6).
1,2-Propanediol (cas: 57-55-6) belongs to alcohols. The oxygen atom of the strongly polarized O―H bond of an alcohol pulls electron density away from the hydrogen atom. This polarized hydrogen, which bears a partial positive charge, can form a hydrogen bond with a pair of nonbonding electrons on another oxygen atom. Under carefully controlled conditions, simple alcohols can undergo intermolecular dehydration to give ethers. This reaction is effective only with methanol, ethanol, and other simple primary alcohols.Reference of 57-55-6
Referemce:
Alcohol – Wikipedia,
Alcohols – Chemistry LibreTexts