HPLC Analysis of CBD-Infused Mints

Application description

The legalization of medical and recreational marijuana introduced a lot of cannabis infused products. These products need to be analyzed in terms of the content of active cannabinoids, and to determine the potency of marijuana related products. Almost every cannabinoid is a hydrophobic neutral compound except some of the acidic cannabinoids such as THCA, CBDA, CBNA, CBGA, etc. Cannabidiol is one of the minor components of marijuana plants. The cannabidiol is the main component of hemp plants and hemp extract, and can go as high as 40% in the extract. There are only traces of THC in hemp plants. Regulations require that hemp derived product have less than 0.3% of THC/THCA in it in order to be legal across all of the United States. Both THC and CBD are hydrophobic in nature and are retained on the Daze 47 column by pure reversed-phase mechanism. In case of cannabis infused edibles, the sample matrix needs to be taken in consideration when developing analytical approaches for the analysis of marijuana related products. We have developed a set of columns and methods for the analysis of marijuana plants, extracts, isolates and edibles. The Daze 47 HPLC column was used for the analysis of THC-CBD infused gummies. Minimal sample preparation was performed and both cannabinoids were analyzed and quantified using UV detection. The Daze 47 column can be used for the analysis of main cannabinoids as well as contaminants like herbicides in cannabinoids-infused samples. Our method is robust, short and efficient.