Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection

[Image: see text] With the ever-evolving cannabis industry, low-cost and high-throughput analytical methods for cannabinoids are urgently needed. Normally, (potentially) psychoactive cannabinoids, typically represented by Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), and nonpsychoactive cannabinoids with therap...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Huang, Si, Qiu, Ruiying, Fang, Zhengfa, Min, Ke, van Beek, Teris A., Ma, Ming, Chen, Bo, Zuilhof, Han, Salentijn, Gert IJ.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2022
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9558087/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36178203
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01627
_version_ 1784807370406232064
author Huang, Si
Qiu, Ruiying
Fang, Zhengfa
Min, Ke
van Beek, Teris A.
Ma, Ming
Chen, Bo
Zuilhof, Han
Salentijn, Gert IJ.
author_facet Huang, Si
Qiu, Ruiying
Fang, Zhengfa
Min, Ke
van Beek, Teris A.
Ma, Ming
Chen, Bo
Zuilhof, Han
Salentijn, Gert IJ.
author_sort Huang, Si
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] With the ever-evolving cannabis industry, low-cost and high-throughput analytical methods for cannabinoids are urgently needed. Normally, (potentially) psychoactive cannabinoids, typically represented by Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), and nonpsychoactive cannabinoids with therapeutic benefits, typically represented by cannabidiol (CBD), are the target analytes. Structurally, the former (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabinol (CBN), and THC) have one olefinic double bond and the latter (cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabigerol (CBG), and CBD) have two, which results in different affinities toward Ag(I) ions. Thus, a silica gel thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plate with the lower third impregnated with Ag(I) ions enabled within minutes a digital chromatographic separation of strongly retained CBD analogues and poorly retained THC analogues. The resolution (R(s)) between the closest two spots from the two groups was 4.7, which is almost 8 times higher than the resolution on unmodified TLC. After applying Fast Blue BB as a chromogenic reagent, smartphone-based color analysis enabled semiquantification of the total percentage of THC analogues (with a limit of detection (LOD) of 11 ng for THC, 54 ng for CBN, and 50 ng for THCA when the loaded volume is 1.0 μL). The method was validated by analyzing mixed cannabis extracts and cannabis extracts. The results correlated with those of high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) (R(2) = 0.97), but the TLC approach had the advantages of multi-minute analysis time, high throughput, low solvent consumption, portability, and ease of interpretation. In a desiccator, Ag(I)-TLC plates can be stored for at least 3 months. Therefore, this method would allow rapid distinction between high and low THC varieties of cannabis, with the potential for on-site applicability.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9558087
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher American Chemical Society
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-95580872022-10-14 Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection Huang, Si Qiu, Ruiying Fang, Zhengfa Min, Ke van Beek, Teris A. Ma, Ming Chen, Bo Zuilhof, Han Salentijn, Gert IJ. Anal Chem [Image: see text] With the ever-evolving cannabis industry, low-cost and high-throughput analytical methods for cannabinoids are urgently needed. Normally, (potentially) psychoactive cannabinoids, typically represented by Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), and nonpsychoactive cannabinoids with therapeutic benefits, typically represented by cannabidiol (CBD), are the target analytes. Structurally, the former (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabinol (CBN), and THC) have one olefinic double bond and the latter (cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabigerol (CBG), and CBD) have two, which results in different affinities toward Ag(I) ions. Thus, a silica gel thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plate with the lower third impregnated with Ag(I) ions enabled within minutes a digital chromatographic separation of strongly retained CBD analogues and poorly retained THC analogues. The resolution (R(s)) between the closest two spots from the two groups was 4.7, which is almost 8 times higher than the resolution on unmodified TLC. After applying Fast Blue BB as a chromogenic reagent, smartphone-based color analysis enabled semiquantification of the total percentage of THC analogues (with a limit of detection (LOD) of 11 ng for THC, 54 ng for CBN, and 50 ng for THCA when the loaded volume is 1.0 μL). The method was validated by analyzing mixed cannabis extracts and cannabis extracts. The results correlated with those of high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) (R(2) = 0.97), but the TLC approach had the advantages of multi-minute analysis time, high throughput, low solvent consumption, portability, and ease of interpretation. In a desiccator, Ag(I)-TLC plates can be stored for at least 3 months. Therefore, this method would allow rapid distinction between high and low THC varieties of cannabis, with the potential for on-site applicability. American Chemical Society 2022-09-30 2022-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC9558087/ /pubmed/36178203 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01627 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Permits the broadest form of re-use including for commercial purposes, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Huang, Si
Qiu, Ruiying
Fang, Zhengfa
Min, Ke
van Beek, Teris A.
Ma, Ming
Chen, Bo
Zuilhof, Han
Salentijn, Gert IJ.
Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection
title Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection
title_full Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection
title_fullStr Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection
title_full_unstemmed Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection
title_short Semiquantitative Screening of THC Analogues by Silica Gel TLC with an Ag(I) Retention Zone and Chromogenic Smartphone Detection
title_sort semiquantitative screening of thc analogues by silica gel tlc with an ag(i) retention zone and chromogenic smartphone detection
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9558087/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36178203
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01627
work_keys_str_mv AT huangsi semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT qiuruiying semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT fangzhengfa semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT minke semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT vanbeekterisa semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT maming semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT chenbo semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT zuilhofhan semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection
AT salentijngertij semiquantitativescreeningofthcanaloguesbysilicageltlcwithanagiretentionzoneandchromogenicsmartphonedetection