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Intralaboratory comparison of analytical methods for quantification of major phytocannabinoids

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Abstract

This study compares alternative approaches for analyzing phytocannabinoids in different plant materials. Three chromatographic analytical methods (ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric and flame ionization detection) were evaluated regarding selectivity, sensitivity, analytical accuracy, and precision. The performance of the methods was compared and all three methods were demonstrated to be appropriate tools for analyzing phytocannabinoids in cannabis. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometric detection showed slightly better accuracy in determining phytocannabinoid acids, which are often difficult to quantify owing to their limited stability. Aspects of sample preparation, such as material homogenization and extraction, were also considered. A single ultrasonic-assisted ethanolic extraction of dried and powdered plant samples of cannabis was shown to be exhaustive for extracting the samples prior to analysis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Sees-editing Ltd. (UK) for editing the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by project No. RO0419 (sustainable systems and technologies, improving crop production for higher quality of production of food, feed, and raw materials, under conditions of changing climate) funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Czech Republic. P.T. was supported also from ERDF project “Plants as a tool for sustainable global development” (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000827).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Department of Phytochemistry, Palacký University, Šlechtitelů 27, 78371, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Tibor Béres, Lucie Černochová, Sanja Ćavar Zeljković & Petr Tarkowski

  2. Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Department of Genetic Resources for Vegetables, Medicinal and Special Plants, Crop Research Institute, Šlechtitelů 29, 78371, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Sanja Ćavar Zeljković, Sandra Benická, Michal Berčák & Petr Tarkowski

  3. Laboratory of Growth Regulators, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Botany & Palacký University, Šlechtitelů 27, 78371, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Gucký

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  1. Tibor Béres
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Correspondence to Tibor Béres.

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Béres, T., Černochová, L., Ćavar Zeljković, S. et al. Intralaboratory comparison of analytical methods for quantification of major phytocannabinoids. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 3069–3079 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01760-y

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