Cannabis Analysis Flashcards
What is the primary objective when analyzing cannabis?
The positive identification and quantification of THC/CBD ratio is a primary objective in the analysis of cannabis
What technique is used for the identification and quantification of THC and CBD?
Gas Chromatography/Mass Sepctrometry (GCMS)
What is medical marijuana often characterized by?
Higher levels of CBD
What is undesirable for medicinal marijuana? Why?
THC because it’s psychoactive.
What are some medicinal effects of cannabis?
Reduce symptoms such as
-Nausea
-Seizures
-Eye pressure and pain
What are some various analysis methods?
-Macroscopic and Microscopic Analysis
-Potency testing: THC/CBD ratio
-Safety: Mold/mildew/bacteria
-Pesticide residue
-Residual solvent analysis
-Extracted concentrates and Heavy metals
List the cannabinoids of interest
-Cannabichromene
-Cannabidiol
-Delta 8-THC
-Delta 9-THC
-Cannabigerol
-Cannabinol
-THC Acid
-Cannabidiolic Acid
What is CBD known for?
Therapeutic component
What is THC known for?
Psychoactive component
What is CBN (Cannabinol) known for?
Sample break down due to age or poor storage conditions
What is THC acid known for?
Native form of THC in material, not detected by GC.
What is Cannabidiolic Acid known for?
Native form of CBD in plant material, not detected by GC
What is the reaction from THCA to THC?
Decarboxylation
What is the reaction from CBDA to CBD?
Decarboxylation
What is the precursor of THC?
THCA
What is the precursor of CBD?
CBDA
Why is CBDA and THCA not detected by GC? Why is this not a problem?
Because it is converted to CBD and THC by the heating component of the GC. It’s not a problem because when it is smoked, it does the same thing.
What is not typically tested for pesticides, mold and mildew?
Edibles and extracted liquids
What does recreational cannabis have? Higher THC or higher CBD?
Higher THC
What are the two most succesful instrumentation techniques for potency testing?
GCMS and HPLC
What can HPLC detect? Why?
THCA and CBDA before conversion. Because it’s not heating.
What else can detect TCHA and CBDA?
LCMS
What can make a sample have a more accurate reporting for GC?
Heating the sample previously
Which method is faster for analysis: GCMS or HPLC?
GCMS
What is the cannabis potency based on in GCMS?
Concentration of decarboxylated THC and CBD
What is the cannabis potency based on in HPLC?
Sum of THC and THCA.
For THC/CBD analysis how is leafy cannabis extracted? What does it do?
Extracted with organic solvent to dissolve oily resin on the surface of the plan material.
What are some succesfully used solvents for extractions?
Methanol, isopropanol, and ethyl acetate.
Is the solvent used for extraction is injected to the GCMS?
Yes.
What does random sampling of the plant include?
Leaf, bud, and flower
How is the plant material dried?
For two hours at 35 degrees celcius with forced air ventilation.
Once sample is weighed, what happens with it?
Its grinded into a powder. Then organic solvent is added, sonicated for 30 minutes and filtered.
What is the optional set to convert the THCA to THC?
Evaporate to dryness at 200 degrees celcius for 20 minutes. Reconstitute in organic solvent, then analyze in GCMS.
What are the most common GC columns?
Small diameter, thin-filmed non-polar stationary phase columns
What are the non-polar columns typically made out of?
-100% dimethyl silicone
-5% diphenyl and 95% dimethyl silicone
What can an intermediate polar column do?
It can seperate the cannabidiol from the cannabichromene.
What is the material of the intermediate polar column typically?
-35% diphenyl with 65% dimethyl silicone
How can separation of cannabinoid standards be fast? How long do they take?
Short, small diameter column
Takes less than three minutes.
What is the preferred elution time? What type of column is preffered?
9 minutes. Long and large diameter.
What is the concentration for commercial standards?
1000 micrograms per mililiter
Is there a commercially available standard to conform the expected ratios of THC/CBD?
No
What is the typical sample preparation for analytical standards?
100 mg dried plant in plant material in 30 mL of solution.
What is the expected concentration of THC in recereational cannabis?
20%
How is THC potency reported?
%THC
(w/w) Divide the mass of solute by mass of solution.
If there are not specific methods from individual states, what guidelines do you follow? What is the method of analyisis?
DEA guidelines and primary analytical method is GCMS.
What procedures do we follow about analyzing pesticides and fungicides if no guidelines from individual states?
EPA
What is the EPA?
Enviromental Protection Agency
What are the regulations of positive pesticides?
0.1 ppm
What are the pesticide classes of interests?
Chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphates, pyrethroids
What is responsible for the aroma of cannabis?
Terpenoids. The cannabinoids are odorless.
What are the terpenoids are presented in cannabis plant?
Alpha-pinene
Beta-pinene
Beta-myrcene
Beta-carophylene
What do we do for the analysis of terpenoids?
GCMS
What do we use to analyze mold, mildew, microbes, fungus, and bacteria?
Microscopic examination, petri dish culture.
What are we looking for when we analyzed mold, mildew, etc?
-Aspergillus spp.
-Escherishia coli (E. coli)
-Salmonella
How is residual solvent measured?
By headspace with gas chromatogrpahy and flame ionization detection (HS-GC-FID)
What guidleines are followed reguarding procedure for solvent residues if individual states do not have specific regulation methods?
ICH guidelines
What is the ICH?
International Council of Harmonization
Who gives guidelines for heavy metals in food products?
Heavy metals
How is analysis done for heavy metals?
ICP-MS
What peak are you looking for in MS?
Molecular ion peak
