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Quantification of Cannabinoids in Cultivars of Cannabis sp. by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

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Abstract

In the chemical characterization of medically valued Cannabis, the present work has used a gas chromatography (GC) method coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) for identification and quantification of cannabinoids. We have modified a GC–MS method for chemical analysis of cannabinoids extracted from dried flowers of different Cannabis varieties. The method allows for quantification of major cannabinoids, i.e. cannabidiol (CBD), cannabichromene (CBC), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabigerol (CBG), and cannabinol (CBN) simultaneously. We found that the Cannabis cultivar called Cannabis 5-CW had the highest amount of CBD. We used a modified GC–MS method for chemical profiling of cannabinoids extracted from a variety of Cannabis samples, especially the high CBD, CBC, THC, CBG and CBN-producing ones. The method was successfully applied for identification and quantification of cannabinoids in a short time with better separation resolution among the reported methods.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Medleaf Biotechnologies Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for providing financial assistance in association with the Mitacs Accelerate program.

Funding

Mitacs Accelerate program and Medleaf Biotechnologies Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Abdul Qudeer Ahmed & Paul C. H. Li

  2. Medleaf Biotechnologies Inc, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    David Noshad

Authors
  1. Abdul Qudeer Ahmed
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  2. David Noshad
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  3. Paul C. H. Li
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Contributions

AQA performed the experimental work. AQA, PCL and DN analyzed the data. The manuscript was written through the contributions of all authors. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul C. H. Li.

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Conflict of interest

DN is president of Medleaf Biotechnologies and other authors declare that they have no competing interests. The paper is the subject of a PCT application: CA2021050503.

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Ahmed, A.Q., Noshad, D. & Li, P.C.H. Quantification of Cannabinoids in Cultivars of Cannabis sp. by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry. Chromatographia 84, 711–717 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10337-021-04060-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10337-021-04060-9

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