Medicinal cannabis: Principal cannabinoids concentration and their stability evaluated by a high performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode array and quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry method.
In the last few years, there has been a boost in the use of cannabis-based extracts for medicinal purposes, although their preparation procedure has not been standardized but rather decided by the individual pharmacists. The present work describes the development of a simple and rapid high performance liquid chromatography method with UV detection (HPLC-UV) for the qualitative and quantitative determination of the principal cannabinoids (CBD-A, CBD, CBN, THC and THC-A) that could be applied to all cannabis-based medicinal extracts (CMEs) and easily performed by a pharmacist. In order to evaluate the identity and purity of the analytes, a high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF) analysis was also carried out. Full method validation has been performed in terms of specificity, selectivity, linearity, recovery, dilution integrity and thermal stability. Moreover, the influence of the solvent (ethyl alcohol and olive oil) was evaluated on cannabinoids degradation rate. An alternative extraction method has then been proposed in order to preserve cannabis monoterpene component in final CMEs.
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; CNR NANOTEC, Campus Ecoteckne dell'Università del Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Cinzia
C
Citti
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; CNR NANOTEC, Campus Ecoteckne dell'Università del Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Giuseppe
G
Ciccarella
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy.
Daniela
D
Braghiroli
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy.
Carlo
C
Parenti
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy.
Maria Angela
MA
Vandelli
CNR NANOTEC, Campus Ecoteckne dell'Università del Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy. Electronic address: giuseppe.cannazza@unimore.it.
Giuseppe
G
Cannazza
D002186:Cannabinoids / Q000032:analysis*; D002188:Cannabis / Q000737:chemistry; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004355:Drug Stability; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D057230:Limit of Detection; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D064086:Medical Marijuana / Q000032:analysis*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012997:Solvents; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
D002186:Cannabinoids; D064086:Medical Marijuana; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012997:Solvents
Cannabinoids extraction; Cannabinoids stability; Gas chromatography; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; medicinal cannabis