Screening of cannabinoids in industrial-grade hemp using two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence detection.

Jessica Pandohee, Brendan J Holland, Bingshan Li, Takuya Tsuzuki, Paul G Stevenson, Neil W Barnett, James R Pearson, Oliver A H Jones, Xavier A Conlan

Index: J. Sep. Sci. 38 , 2024-32, (2015)

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Abstract

Widely known for its recreational use, the cannabis plant also has the potential to act as an antibacterial agent in the medicinal field. The analysis of cannabis plants/products in both pharmacological and forensic studies often requires the separation of compounds of interest and/or accurate identification of the whole cannabinoid profile. In order to provide a complete separation and detection of cannabinoids, a new two-dimensional liquid chromatography method has been developed using acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence detection, which has been shown to be selective for cannabinoids. This was carried out using a Luna 100 Å CN column and a Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column in the first and second dimensions, respectively. The method has utilized a large amount of the available separation space with a spreading angle of 48.4° and a correlation of 0.66 allowing the determination of more than 120 constituents and mass spectral identification of ten cannabinoids in a single analytical run. The method has the potential to improve research involved in the characterization of sensitive, complex matrices. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.