Introducing Restek’s Cannabinoid Neutrals Mix!

Whether new or experienced in the hemp and cannabis markets, we all know how vital reporting cannabinoids are for manufacturing or retail activities. Having the ability to quickly and accurately perform  potency analysis allows businesses to operate more efficiently and effectively. These days, most testing labs and manufacturers are focused heavily on cutting down runtimes and minimizing sample preparation steps to increase throughput and lower costs. While these are great focus areas for potency workflows, most businesses have exhausted their efforts fine-tuning these aspects and have reached their limits for further cost savings. New businesses that are just now getting into the market have the luxury of finding published methods focused on workflow efficiency.

However, there’s a subtle task that seems to be often overlooked when trying to find ways to save time and money; the task of preparing and using reference standards. Whether it’s an internal or external calibration, this procedure can cut into the amount of time you spend on potency testing. And, let’s not forget extensive and repetitive number of steps you need to complete for individual standards. This in turn, opens the possibility for human error. And let’s be honest, how many of us have had to go back into the lab after running samples to double check things to find out there was a human error made. At a minimum, this costs extra resources and time. And, if samples need to be retested, more time and money.

Point being, there’s a simple way to reduce time preparing standards and minimize the number of steps to perform these tasks.

A multi-mix!  But not just any multiple mix; Restek has spent a lot of time formulating our Neutrals 9 Standard to group the neutrals together and pack a powerful concentration of 1,000 µg/ml per cannabinoid. That’s right! This mix has 9 natural cannabinoids each at 1,000 µg/ml! One of the main advantages of using this high concentrated mix is that it  will provide you with more flexibility in preparing calibration curves at higher concentrations. For example, if you want to prepare a 100 ppm mix with singles at 1000 ppm, the maximum number of compounds you could spike is 10 (e.g., by spiking 100 µL of each cannabinoid to reach 1000 µL). By employing our new multi-mix, you’ll be able to have more cannabinoids in the same high concentration solution. Additionally, this mix simplifies assessing the performance of a potency extraction by spiking a blank matrix with multiple cannabinoids. If you use singles, your spiking volume will get too high when trying to spike high concentrations. This mix will help analysts to reach high concentrations in their blank matrix while keeping the spiking solvent low.

Below, you’ll find both LC-and GC chromatograms showcasing the Cannabinoids Neutrals 9 Standard.

Cannabinoids Neutrals 9 Standard on Raptor ARC-18 2.7 μm by LC-UV

	Peaks	tR (min)	Conc. (µg/mL)
1.	Cannabidivarin (CBDV)	2.03	50
2.	Cannabigerol (CBG)	2.87	50
3.	Cannabidiol (CBD)	3.03	50
4.	Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV)	3.31	50
5.	Cannabinol (CBN)	4.53	50
6.	Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC)	5.72	50
7.	Delta-8-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC)	5.91	50
8.	Cannabicyclol (CBL)	6.83	50
9.	Cannabichromene (CBC)	7.17	50

Column	Raptor ARC-18 (cat.# 9314A65)
Dimensions:	150 mm x 4.6 mm ID
Particle Size:	2.7 µm
Pore Size:	90 Å
Guard Column:	Raptor ARC-18 5 mm, 4.6 mm ID, 2.7 µm (cat.# 9314A0250)
Temp.:	30 °C
Standard/Sample	Cannabinoids neutrals 9 standard (cat.# 34132)
Diluent:	Methanol
Conc.:	50 ppm
Inj. Vol.:	5 µL
Mobile Phase
A:	Water, 5 mM ammonium formate, 0.1% formic acid
B:	Acetonitrile, 0.1% formic acid
	Time (min) Flow (mL/min) %A %B 0.00 1.5 25 75 10.00 1.5 25 75

Detector	UV/Vis @ 228 nm
Instrument	UHPLC

 

Cannabinoids Neutrals 9 Standard on Rxi-35Sil MS

	Peaks	tR (min)	Conc. (µg/mL)
1.	Cannabidivarin (CBDV)	9.446	10
2.	Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV)	9.932	10
3.	Cannabicyclol (CBL)	10.019	10
4.	Cannabichromene (CBC)	10.194	10
5.	Cannabidiol (CBD)	10.268	10
6.	Delta-8-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC)	10.607	10
7.	Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC)	10.730	10
8.	Cannabigerol (CBG)	10.840	10
9.	Cannabinol (CBN)	11.015	10

Column	Rxi-35Sil MS, 15 m, 0.25 mm ID, 0.25 µm (cat.# 13820)
Standard/Sample	Cannabinoids neutrals 9 standard (cat.# 34132)
Diluent:	Methanol
Conc.:	10 µg/mL
Injection
Inj. Vol.:	1 µL split (split ratio 10:1)
Liner:	Topaz 4.0 mm ID Precision inlet liner w/ wool (cat.# 23305)
Inj. Temp.:	260 °C
Split Vent Flow Rate:	3 mL/min
Oven
Oven Temp.:	80 °C (hold 1 min) to 320 °C at 20 °C/min (hold 3 min)
Carrier Gas	He, constant flow
Flow Rate:	2.0 mL/min

Detector	FID @ 330 °C
Make-up Gas Flow Rate:	15 mL/min
Make-up Gas Type:	N2
Hydrogen flow:	30 mL/min
Air flow:	400 mL/min
Data Rate:	20 Hz
Instrument	Agilent 7890B GC

 

And, while you’re waiting on your reference standard to arrive at your door step, take a couple minutes to learn more about potency calibrations so you can put that new mix to good use!