Cannabis sativa represents one of the most widely used source of drugs and drugs of abuse worldwide. Its active compounds are cannabinoids, the main ones being Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to whom the majority of psychoactive effects are attributed, tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) and cannabinol (CBN). Together with hashish and marijuana (illegal drugs of abuse in several countries worldwide) and legally prescribed medical Cannabis, new products have been recently released into the market, such as those with low THC and high CBD content. In this study, samples belonging to the categories mentioned above were analysed, i.e. Cannabis products in their commercial (legal) or seized (illegal) forms. The analytical approach involved an effective preliminary screening method without the need for any sample preparation, represented by an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) methodology. The aim was to identify unknown samples, also quantifying their active principles after development and validation of proper calibration curves. FT-IR results were then compared to those obtained by means of an original LC-DAD-MS/MS method, by exploiting multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) acquisition mode, through an electrospray ionisation (ESI) source by means of a triple-quadrupole mass analyser, also coupled to a diode array detector (DAD). Satisfactory validation results were obtained in terms of precision (RSD &lt; 6.0% for all the analytes) and accuracy (&gt; 92.1% for all the compounds). Both the developed FT-IR and LC methods have been applied also to fibre-type plant varieties to monitor the content of non-psychoactive compounds for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. This combined strategy of FT-IR and LC-DAD-MS/MS represents a versatile, fast and reliable tool to assess cannabinoid levels in regular or illicit samples for quality control and forensic purposes.

Combined LC-DAD-MS/MS and FT-IR platform for the analysis of Cannabis and Cannabis-related products

2019 Fall National Meeting

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