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.

尽管大麻已经使用了数千年，但对于各种症状所使用的大麻素患者的确切组成仍然鲜为人知。尽管在某些文化中可以接受缺乏分类信息的信息，但是在注册药物环境中使用大麻作为人类产品需要了解其成分，以便可以在患者之间标准化剂量。在当前正在进行的确定产品功效的临床试验中尤其如此。尽管开处方者感兴趣的主要大麻素是众所周知的-四氢大麻酚和大麻二酚以及相应的酸四氢大麻酚酸和大麻二酚酸，但大麻植物中含有更多的植物大麻素。我们已经开发并验证了一种可靠且快速（11分钟）的等度HPLC方法，用于分析17种植物大麻素。该方法的分析范围为1–150μgmL^-1用于tetrahydrocannabinolic酸和大麻二酸，0.5-75微克毫升^-1为四氢大麻二酚和，和0.5-20微克毫升^-1对于剩余13种大麻素。该方法具有出色的重复性，相对于17种大麻素的相对标准偏差为5至14％，偏差为–8.6至6％。该方法适用于药用大麻产品的分析，包括花和油，其结果与供应商的分析证书相符。使用基本HPLC设备的这种简单的快速等度方法可以轻松地转移到对大麻素的鉴定和定量感兴趣的任何分析实验室。