The medicinal use of cannabis, like any other drug, requires extensive controls that determine, among other things, its quality, identification, purity, potency and stability to guarantee its safety and indicate, for example, its dosage. The chemical composition of oils and other cannabis derivatives varies significantly depending on the variety of plants and multiple other factors related to the growing condition. Essential characterisation of cannabis-derived preparations includes determining the cannabidiol/tetrahydrocannabinol (CBD/THC) content and concentration ratio to establish their correct use and avoid unexpected side effects. In addition to these main compounds, it is crucial to know the content of at least three other minority compounds: cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) and cannabinol (CBN), precursors and derivatives of the main active compounds. These related substances can be used as degradation markers (CBN) and the samples oxidation degree (CBDA, THCA).
In this context, the FundacioÌn Instituto Leloir-IIBBA-CONICET has a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) laboratory equipped with a Bruker Avance III, 600 MHz, capable of efficiently absorbing the analytical demand of cannabis-derived products for different therapeutic uses. Our laboratory uses the quantitative NMR technique (qRMN) to determine the most relevant majority and minority active compounds, according to the requirements, the demand and the problem to be solved. In addition to the quantification of these active ingredients, the quality control of the products include, for example, the determination of the content of the solvent used in the extraction process, which can be toxic if found in high concentrations.
qRMN determination in complex matrices has become a versatile method. The validation processes (e.g. precision, accuracy, linearity, reproducibility, robustness, selectivity and specificity) have positioned the technique as an excellent analytical tool for quantitative analysis. Among its main advantages are: i) it provides information on the structure of molecules at the atomic level; ii) it allows shorter measurement times compared to conventional chromatographic analytical methods; iii) it does not require chemical and physical processing of samples, avoiding possible changes in the composition of analytes during preparation; iv) it allows the simultaneous determination of multiple analytes and v) absolute quantification by NMR can be applied without the use of any specific reference standard or the generation of local reference substances.
*according to concentration
