IONICON Announces Research Alliance for E-Cigarette Aerosol Analytics with Fontem Ventures

Fontem Ventures, parent company of blu, the number one e-cigarette brand in the United States and a market leader in the United Kingdom, is partnering with IONICON (Austria) to conduct pioneering research into e-cigarette aerosols.

With Fontem Ventures a strategic research alliance has been formed where the latest analytical tools are applied to the new consumer product category of e-cigarettes.

The IONICON Applied Science Team & Lab are providing essential services for several multinational customers in the aroma & flavor analytics business using IONICON’s unique PTR-TOFMS instruments and analytical know-how.

“We are delighted to be partnering with IONICON,” said Dr. Grant O’Connell, Lead Scientist, Fontem Ventures. “The company’s revolutionary Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry (PTRMS) systems will help us establish and develop unprecedented analytical methods for the direct sampling and analysis of chemical compounds in both inhaled and exhaled e-cigarette aerosols.”

Founded in 1998, IONICON Analytik GmbH, located in Innsbruck, Austria, provides ultra-sensitive solutions for real-time trace gas analysis to some of the world’s leading companies.

Dr. Philipp Sulzer, Senior Scientist at IONICON said: “We welcome this new partnership with Fontem Ventures. Our PTR-MS systems are internationally recognised as the most sensitive and effective instruments for real-time monitoring of volatile organic compounds and this will be one of first times PTR-MS systems have been applied to e-cigarette research. IONICON is proud to be contributing to much needed scientific understanding of these relatively new category products.”

The study will be completed and submitted for publication in autumn this year.