Citation

Wang M, Wang YH, Avula B, Radwan MM, Wanas AS, Mehmedic Z, van Antwerp J, ElSohly MA, Khan IA. J. Forensic Sci. 2016; 62(3): 602-611.

Affiliation

Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13341

PMID

27957741

Abstract

Ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography (UHPSFC) is an efficient analytical technique and has not been fully employed for the analysis of cannabis. Here, a novel method was developed for the analysis of 30 cannabis plant extracts and preparations using UHPSFC/PDA-MS. Nine of the most abundant cannabinoids, viz. CBD, ∆(8) -THC, THCV, ∆(9) -THC, CBN, CBG, THCA-A, CBDA, and CBGA, were quantitatively determined (RSDs < 6.9%). Unlike GC methods, no derivatization or decarboxylation was required prior to UHPSFC analysis. The UHPSFC chromatographic separation of cannabinoids displayed an inverse elution order compared to UHPLC. Combining with PDA-MS, this orthogonality is valuable for discrimination of cannabinoids in complex matrices. The developed method was validated, and the quantification results were compared with a standard UHPLC method. The RSDs of these two methods were within ±13.0%. Finally, chemometric analysis including principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were used to differentiate between cannabis samples.

© 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en