Application US20200178891

TECHNIQUES FOR RAPID DETECTION AND QUANTITATION OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (VOCS) USING BREATH SAMPLES
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US20200178891

1. A system for analyzing a breath sample, the system comprising: (9) (5)

a sampling chamber;

an inlet coupled to the sampling chamber and configured to receive a breath sample and to provide the breath sample to the sampling chamber;

a molecule collector disposed within the sampling chamber, wherein the molecule collector is configured to adhere to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in the breath sample;

a heating element configured to introduce heat within the sampling chamber;

an analysis device configured to: identify one or more target VOCs from among the VOCs present in the sampling chamber subsequent to release of at least a portion of the VOCs from the molecule collector, wherein at least the portion of the VOCs are released from the molecule collector by the heat introduced within the sampling chamber by the heating element; and

generate an output representative of the one or more target VOCs.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the molecule collector comprises a Carboxen® coated mesh or other carbon molecular sieve. (0)

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the heating element comprises a power source coupled to the molecule collector and configured to apply a voltage to the molecule collector to introduce the heat within the sampling chamber. (0)

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the analysis device comprises a mass spectrometer, a computing device communicatively coupled to the mass spectrometer, and an output device communicatively coupled to the computing device, and wherein: (1) (2)

the mass spectrometer includes: an ionizer configured to ionize at least the portion of the VOCs released from the molecule collector to produce one or more ionized fragments;

a mass analyzer configured to separate the one or more ionized fragments; and

a detector configured to identify the one or more target VOCs based on the separated one or more ionized fragments; and

the computing device includes: one or more processors configured to: generate the output representative of the one or more target VOCs based on information associated with the one or more target VOCs identified by the detector; and

display the output at the output device; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more target VOCs include Δ-9-THC, 11-hydroxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), THC metabolites, opioids, opioid metabolites, or a combination thereof. (0)

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the analysis device comprises a Terahertz (THz) spectrometer that includes: (2) (2)

an excitation source configured to introduce an excitation signal within the sampling chamber subsequent to the release of at least a portion of the VOCs from the molecule collector; and

a detector configured to identify the one or more target VOCs based on one or more characteristics associated with excitation of at least the portion of the VOCs released from the molecule collector in response to the excitation signal.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the excitation source comprises a THz laser, and wherein the one or more target VOCs include Δ-9-THC, 11-hydroxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), THC metabolites, opioids, opioid metabolites, or a combination thereof. (0)

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more characteristics associated with the excitation of at least the portion of the VOCs comprises at least one of: an absorbance characteristic and a fluorescent emission characteristic. (0)

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a disposable mouthpiece removably coupled to a first end of the inlet, wherein a second end the inlet is coupled to the sampling chamber. (0)

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a valve disposed within an air flow path between the inlet and the sampling chamber, wherein the valve is configurable to at least a first state and a second state, the first state corresponding to an open state configured to allow the breath sample to flow into the sampling chamber and the second state corresponding to a closed state configured to prevent contamination of the breath sample. (0)

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an outlet configured to release non-VOCs from the sampling chamber. (0)

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the output representative of the one or more target VOCs comprises information that quantitates a concentration of the one or more target VOCs with respect to a source of the breath sample. (0)

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sensor configured to determine whether the breath sample satisfies one or more criterion. (0)

14. A method for analyzing a breath sample, the method comprising: (4) (4)

receiving, at a sampling chamber, a breath sample via an inlet coupled to the sampling chamber, wherein the sampling chamber comprises a molecule collector disposed within the sampling chamber, and wherein the molecule collector is configured to adhere to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in the breath sample;

introducing, via a heating element, heat within the sampling chamber;

identifying, by an analysis device, one or more target VOCs from among the VOCs present in the sampling chamber subsequent to release of at least a portion of the VOCs from the molecule collector, wherein at least the portion of the VOCs are released from the molecule collector by the heat introduced within the sampling chamber by the heating element; and

generating, by the analysis device, an output representative of the one or more target VOCs, wherein the output representative of the one or more target VOCs comprises information that quantitates a concentration of the one or more target VOCs with respect to a source of the breath sample.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the molecule collector comprises a Carboxen® coated mesh, wherein the heating element comprises a power source coupled to the molecule collector, and wherein the method comprises applying a voltage to the molecule collector to introduce the heat within the sampling chamber. (0)

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more target VOCs include Δ-9-THC, 11-hydroxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), THC metabolites, opioids, opioid metabolites, or a combination thereof. (0)

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the analysis device comprises a mass spectrometer, a computing device communicatively coupled to the mass spectrometer, and an output device communicatively coupled to the computing device, and wherein the identifying the one or more target VOCs comprises: (0) (4)

ionizing, by an ionizer of the mass spectrometer, at least the portion of the VOCs released from the molecule collector to produce one or more ionized fragments;

separating, by a mass analyzer of the mass spectrometer, the one or more ionized fragments;

identifying, by a detector of the mass spectrometer, the one or more target VOCs based on the separated one or more ionized fragments, wherein the output representative of the one or more target VOCs is generated, by the computing device, based on information associated with the one or more target VOCs identified by the detector; and

displaying the output at the output device.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the analysis device comprises a Terahertz (THz) spectrometer, and wherein the identifying the one or more target VOCs comprises: (1) (2)

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations for analyzing a breath sample, the operations comprising: (0) (3)

activating a heating element configured to introduce heat within a sampling chamber subsequent to a breath sample being provided to the sampling chamber, wherein the sampling chamber comprises a molecule collector disposed within the sampling chamber, and wherein the molecule collector is configured to adhere to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in the breath sample;

identifying one or more target VOCs from among the VOCs present in the sampling chamber subsequent to release of at least a portion of the VOCs from the molecule collector, wherein at least the portion of the VOCs are released from the molecule collector by the heat introduced within the sampling chamber by the heating element, and wherein the one or more target VOCs include Δ-9-THC, 11-hydroxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), THC metabolites, opioids, opioid metabolites, or a combination thereof; and

generating an output representative of the one or more target VOCs, wherein the output representative of the one or more target VOCs comprises information that quantitates a concentration of the one or more target VOCs with respect to a source of the breath sample.

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Application US20200178891

TECHNIQUES FOR RAPID DETECTION AND QUANTITATION OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (VOCS) USING BREATH SAMPLES

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