A Cup of Hemp Coffee by Moka Pot from Southern Italy: An UHPLC-HRMS Investigation

Abstract

After a long period defined by prohibition of hemp production, this crop has been recently re-evaluated in various industrial sectors. Until now, inflorescences have been considered a processing by-product, not useful for the food industry, and their disposal also represents an economic problem for farmers. The objects of the present work are coffee blends enriched with shredded inflorescences of different cultivars of industrial hemp that underwent solid/liquid extraction into the Italian “moka” coffee maker. The obtained coffee drinks were analyzed by Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) tools for their quali-quantitative phytocannabinoid profiles. The results showed that they are minor constituents compared to chlorogenic acids and caffeine in all samples. In particular, cannabidiolic acid was the most abundant among phytocannabinoids, followed by tetrahydrocannabinolic acid. Neither Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) nor cannabinol, its main oxidation product, were detected. The percentage of total THC never exceeded 0.04%, corresponding to 0.4 mg/kg, far below the current maximum limits imposed by the Italian Ministry of Health. This study opens up a new concrete possibility to exploit hemp processing by-products in order to obtain drinks with high added value and paves the way for further in vitro and in vivo investigations aimed at promoting their benefits for human health.

Chemical and nutritional characteristics of Cannabis sativa L. co‐products

“…UHPLC‐HRMS analysis on a polar extract from the hemp co‐products matrices provided qualitative information on their phytocannabinoids' content, whereas the main acidic phytocannabinoids, namely CBDA and Δ 9 ‐THCA, were quantized thanks to calibration curves available from the pure isolated reference compounds (Piccolella et al, 2020 ). CBDA and Δ 9 ‐THCA metabolites showed the deprotonated molecular ion ([M‐H] − ) ion at m/z 357.21 according to the molecular formula C 22 H 30 O 5 .…”

“…Both the compounds were previously isolated and fully characterized by means of spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques (Formato et al, 2020 ). Thus, working solutions of each standard, prepared by dilution from a stock solution, were injected into the UHPLC‐ESI‐QqTOF MS system under the same conditions as the samples (Piccolella et al, 2020 ).…”

Theobromacacao Criollo var. Beans: Biological Properties and Chemical Profile

“…In recent years, the increasing interest in plant-derived healthy natural products has been focused on the research for normally consumed food and drinks whose natural chemical composition provides multi-purpose beneficial effects [ 11 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Thus, assuming that cocoa and derivatives are consumed frequently and widely all over the world as reported by Tokede and collaborators [ 36 ] due to the highly attractive organoleptic characteristics [ 4 ], herein the combined approach between the evaluation of various biological activities (radical scavenging, antimutagenicity, antigenotoxicity, and cancer cells viability inhibitory effect), and the chemical composition analysis by UHPLC-ESI Q q TOF-MS/MS of the selected cocoa beans was used.…”

Cancer Initiation, Progression and Resistance: Are Phytocannabinoids from Cannabis sativa L. Promising Compounds?

“…Acetyl-CoA and butanoyl-CoA also react with malonyl-CoA derived-polyketide to produce other cannabinoid derivatives. In this context, a well-known example is cannabidivarinic acid, which could be considered a CBDA propyl analogue [ 7 ]. Moreover, acidic phytocannabinoids could undergo nonenzymatic decarboxylation to yield the neutral forms, which often retain or enhance the bioactivity of their precursors.…”

“…CBD has become extraordinarily popular around the world, being commercially available as dietary supplements, creams, lotions, and the most commonly used oils [ 4 , 5 ]. Furthermore, acidic cannabinoids such as cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) and tetrahydrocannabinol acid (THCA), together with cannabigerolic acid, are the main phytocannabinoids in hemp [ 6 , 7 ]; they lack psychoactive effects, and undergo decarboxylation by heat or aging. Another phytocannabinoid, less expressed in Cannabis sativa L., is cannabinol (CBN) which is a degradation product of the Cannabis metabolite Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol, with a concentration in cannabis between 0.1 and 1.6% [ 8 ].…”