Abstract
Although cannabis has been used for several thousand years, the exact composition of the cannabinoids patients are administered for different symptoms has remained largely unknown. While this absence of catalogued information may be accepted in some cultures, the use of cannabis as a human product in the registered medicines setting requires knowing its composition so that doses can be standardised between patients. This is particularly so in clinical trials that are currently under way to determine the efficacy of a product. Although the major cannabinoids of interest to prescribers are well known – tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol and the corresponding acids tetrahydrocannabinolic acid and cannabidiolic acid, the cannabis plant contains many more phytocannabinoids. We have developed and validated a robust and fast (11 min) isocratic HPLC method for the analysis of 17 phytocannabinoids. The method had an analytical range of 1–150 μg mL−1 for tetrahydrocannabinolic acid and cannabidiolic acid, 0.5–75 μg mL−1 for tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, and 0.5–20 μg mL−1 for the remaining 13 cannabinoids. The method had excellent repeatability with a relative standard deviation of between 5 and 14 % and a bias of between –8.6 and 6 % for the 17 cannabinoids. The method was applied to the analysis of medicinal cannabis products, including both flos and oils with results matching the supplier’s certificate of analysis. This simple fast isocratic method with basic HPLC equipment can be easily transferred to any analytical laboratory interested in the identification and quantitation of cannabinoids.
Highlights
Cannabis has been used in traditional medicine for many thousands of years with records dating to the 8th century in Arabic medicine[1] with references to its use as a grain, and hallucinogenic properties far pre-dating this in Asia.[2]
We aimed to develop a comprehensive method for the quantification of 17 phytocannabinoids using an isocratic separation with basic HPLC equipment that could be adopted by any analytical laboratory
The concentrations of cannabinoids expected in plant material are reported and marketed as a percentage converting to grams of active drug per 100 g of plant material; these concentrations are far in excess of the nanogram to picogram capabilities of the mass spectrometer, and significant dilution is required to prevent detector saturation
Summary
Cannabis has been used in traditional medicine for many thousands of years with records dating to the 8th century in Arabic medicine[1] with references to its use as a grain, and hallucinogenic properties far pre-dating this in Asia.[2]. In Australia, late 2014 saw the introduction of a bill supporting the legalisation of cannabis use for terminally ill patients as well as the announcement of the first clinical trials to assess the benefits and side effects of medicinal cannabis in this setting Since this time, the Australian landscape has evolved rapidly, with clinicians assisting patients to access cannabis medicines through the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s Special Access Scheme (SAS) when standard therapies have not been helpful. The cannabis plant contains at least 200 phytocannabinoids[4] in addition to terpenes, fatty acids, and many other components, many of which may have chemical activity This makes a complete characterisation difficult and limited by the availability of analytical standards and methodological factors. We aimed to develop a comprehensive method for the quantification of 17 phytocannabinoids using an isocratic separation with basic HPLC equipment that could be adopted by any analytical laboratory
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