Qualitative terpene profiling of Cannabis varieties cultivated for medical purposes

Abstract

With the upcoming medical Cannabis regulation, quality control methods on raw material will be required. Besides testing for contaminants and potency, there are also pharmaceutical and forensic interests in the determination of the terpene profile in different strains of Cannabis as complementary identification methods. A simple non-destructive HS-SPME GC-MS method was used to identify the terpene content in twelve Cannabis samples, four of them were of the hemp type (Harle-tsu), seven from various marihuana types and one of the intermediate type. They all were previously analyzed by HPLC to determine the potency (THC and CBD content). Spectral library matching was used to identify the terpenes compounds. Thirty terpenes compounds were detected, nine of them were present in all Cannabis samples and used to find their terpene profile: α-pinene, β-pinene, β-myrcene, D-limonene, terpinolene, linalool, caryophyllene, α-bergamotene and humulene. Three of them, caryophyllene, α-pinene and β-myrcene were found as larger components in most of samples. A principal components analyses (PCA) was performed. The four hemp type samples showed two different profiles, two samples showed caryophyllene as main component and the others two with β-myrcene as such. The marihuana type samples showed wider profiles with no clear patterns at all, which is not surprising because of the low number of samples. The simple methodology shows viable to set the terpenes profile for analyses of raw Cannabis material. Suitability for differentiation between different sorts of types needs more studies, with increasing numbers of samples.

Metabolic Perturbation and Synthetic Biology Strategies for Plant Terpenoid Production—An Updated Overview

“…In a comprehensive analysis of terpenes and terpenoids in medicinal cannabis biomass, a total of 49 distinct individual compounds were detected [ 52 ]. Using 12 cannabis samples, 30 terpene compounds were detected in another study [ 66 ]. Nguyen et al used a robust testing method to quantify 30 selected terpenoids in dry plant materials, with 30 monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids quantified [ 53 ].…”

Utilisation of QSPR ODT modelling and odour vector modelling to predict Cannabis sativa odour

“…Accordingly, all new strains and seed-propagated plants should be phenotype-tested to avoid inaccurate descriptions of medicinal products in the market. Whilst chemical composition (including volatiles) can be determined relatively easily through established gas chromatography (G-C) analytical methods [ 13 , 14 ], these are only partially informative to odour prediction [ 15 ], and therefore current methods for determination of sensory properties relies on a slow, costly, and subjective sensory assessment by panellists [ 16 ]. Accordingly, there is a need for additional tools to measure cannabis odour and better understand the connection between volatile profiles and odour perception.…”

Cannabis recreativo: Perfil de los cannabinoides presentes en muestras de marihuana suministradas por población consumidora

“…Es originaria de los ambientes tropicales de Asia centro-oriental y ha sido utilizada por los humanos desde la antigüedad, adaptándose a diferentes condiciones climáticas, hoy en día es un cultivo que se extiende en buena parte del mundo (5) . Cuando el cannabis es consumido, activa el sistema de receptores y neurotransmisores dentro del organismo llamado sistema endocannabinoide (SEC).…”