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Planta Med 2018; 84(04): 267-271
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-100798
Natural Product Chemistry and Analytical Studies
Original Papers
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Detection and Quantification of Cannabinoids in Extracts of Cannabis sativa Roots Using LC-MS/MS

Waseem Gul
1   ElSohly Laboratories, Inc., Oxford, Mississippi, United States of America
2   National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, United States of America
,
Shahbaz W. Gul
1   ElSohly Laboratories, Inc., Oxford, Mississippi, United States of America
,
Suman Chandra
2   National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, United States of America
,
Hemant Lata
2   National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, United States of America
,
Elsayed A. Ibrahim
2   National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, United States of America
3   Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
,
Mahmoud A. ElSohly
1   ElSohly Laboratories, Inc., Oxford, Mississippi, United States of America
2   National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, United States of America
4   Department of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, United States of America
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received 01 December 2017
revised 03 January 2018

accepted 05 January 2018

Publication Date:
22 January 2018 (online)

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Abstract

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry single-laboratory validation was performed for the detection and quantification of the 10 major cannabinoids of cannabis, namely, (−)-trans-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol, cannabigerol, cannabichromene, tetrahydrocannabivarian, cannabinol, (−)-trans-Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiolic acid, cannabigerolic acid, and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid-A, in the root extract of Cannabis sativa. Acetonitrile : methanol (80 : 20, v/v) was used for extraction; d3-cannabidiol and d3- tetrahydrocannabinol were used as the internal standards. All 10 cannabinoids showed a good regression relationship with r 2 > 0.99. The validated method is simple, sensitive, and reproducible and is therefore suitable for the detection and quantification of these cannabinoids in extracts of cannabis roots. To our knowledge, this is the first report for the quantification of cannabinoids in cannabis roots.

Key words

Cannabis sativa - LC-MS/MS - quantification - cannabis roots - extracts - cannabinoids - Cannabaceae

Supporting Information

    Representative chromatograms showing MRM 1 and MRM 2 for all the target cannabinoids in the 50 ppm control and the real sample (MX-MP-FRT-C) are displayed in Fig. 1S and 2S. The average calibration curves of the cannabinoids from 0.05 to 50 ppm are shown in Fig. 3S. In addition to the tables containing LC time program, the MS instrument and parameters, ten cannabinoid retention times, LOD, LOQ, accuracy, RSD, and precision of the ten cannabinoids, and MRM 1 and 2 parameters for the ten cannabinoids and IS are available as supporting information.

  • Supporting Information
 

  • References

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