Analytical Cannabis 

The Science of Cannabis 2020 Online Symposium

Analytical Cannabis Expo East Online 2020

Workshop on Optimizing Performance and Maximizing Productivity When Measuring Heavy Metals in Cannabis and Hemp by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

The Science of Cannabis Extraction Online Symposium 2020

Analytical Cannabis Online Expo 2020

Analytical Cannabis Webinars 2020

Speaking in 2020 at the Analytical Cannabis Expo East Online, Dr Toby Astill, Senior Business Development Leader for Cannabis & Hemp Markets for PerkinElmer presented PerkinElmer's innovative automated workflow for pesticide analysis in cannabis.

Abstract: In the drive to continually decrease sample turnaround time while maintaining high quality data, PerkinElmer has developed unique and innovative technologies to improve the entire cannabis pesticide residue testing workflow. Specifically, after working with industry across all medical and recreational markets to understand the challenges of testing cannabis, a completely new fully automated sample preparation, reagent, and analytical workflow was developed. Material and data will be presented to show the capabilities and benefits of adding sample preparation automation (vortexing, centrifuging, filtering, dilution, etc.), with turnkey pesticide CRM standards, to an APCI/ESI LC/MSMS cannabis flower SOP supported by a Cloud-based data management software architect. Data will show that having a matrix-specific automated SOP workflow for the cannabis testing industry is key in ensuring the highest quality of cannabis reaches the patient and consumer in the shortest time possible.

Achieving the Fastest Lab Turn Around Time with a Holistic Pesticide Workflow Solution

Speaking at the Analytical Cannabis Expo East Online 2020, Kimberly Martin, Technical Service Representative and Applications Chemist II at VICAM presented her talk on mycotoxin analysis for cannabis products.

Abstract: Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by various microorganisms. Cannabis flower and derivative products can potentially be colonized by these organisms and thus become contaminated with mycotoxin residues. 

Mycotoxins are dangerous contaminants and MRL's are generally set at less than 10 ug/kg. Aflatoxin B1 in particular is produced by Aspergillus species and is a potent carcinogen. 

We present a validated analytical method suitable for control of mycotoxin contamination in a wide variety of sample matrices.  The sensitivity and specificity provided by IA enrichment and LC-MS/MS prove critical for meeting low MRL's and reliably identifying mycotoxin contamination.

Sensitive and Reliable Detection of Regulated Mycotoxins in Cannabis and Derivative Products by Immunoaffinity Enrichment and LC-MS/MS

Speaking at the Analytical Cannabis Expo East Online 2020, Jini Curry, Laboratory Director at Modern Canna Labs presented her research on the link between potency and nutrients in cannabis.

Abstract: The potency of chemovars is known to be affected by the plant’s genomics. However, are genomics the only factor that plays a role in the potency of cannabis? Theoretically, healthier plants should result in potency values that are on the higher end of the known potency range for specific chemovars. This study will look at a variety of nutrients to determine if they play a role in the resulting potency. Cannabis is known to be a hyperaccumulator and will therefore, uptake nutrients from the soil and growth mediums to help the plant grow. Utilizing modified Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methodology, our laboratory will determine if specific nutrient concentrations can result in potency differences of well-known chemovars. Currently, the industry has not determined the ideal concentrations for macro and micronutrients in the buds. However, this study has focused on determining what concentrations of nutrients should be seen in the buds and has compared those results to the potency values, so that a correlation between these factors could be established.

Potency and Nutrients: Is There a Distinct Correlation?

Speaking at The Science of Cannabis 2020 Online Symposium, Rob Thomas, Principal Consultant at Scientific Solutions presented his talk on heavy metals regulation and how lessons from the pharmaceutical sector could be transferred to the cannabis industry.<br/><br/>Abstract: The lack of federal oversight with regard to medicinal cannabis and hemp products in the US has meant that it has been left to the individual states to regulate its use. Medical marijuana is legal in 33 states, while 11 states allow its use for adult recreational consumption. The sale of these products is strictly regulated by their THC and CBD content, depending on their use. However, it’s also critical to monitor levels of contaminants such heavy metals, as the cannabis plant is known to be a hyper-accumulator of heavy metals in the soil. Unfortunately, there are many inconsistencies with heavy metal limits in different states where medical cannabis is legal. Some states define four heavy metals while others specify up to eight. Some are based on limits directly in the cannabis, while others are based on consumption per day. Others take into consideration the body weight of the consumer, while some states do not even have heavy metal limits. So clearly there is a need for consistency across state lines, in order that consumers know they are using products which are safe to use. This presentation will take a closer look at how the pharmaceutical industry changed its 100-year old sulfide precipitation test for a small group of heavy metals, to finally arrive at a list of 24 elemental impurities using plasma spectrochemical techniques. The cannabis industry can learn a great deal from this process to not only understand the many potential sources of heavy metal contamination, but also how the final cannabis products can be contaminated by the manufacturing equipment, the extraction process and the delivery systems used.

Regulating Heavy Metals in Cannabis: What We Can Learn From the Pharmaceutical Industry

Speaking at the Analytical Cannabis Expo East Online 2020, Dr Ben Armstrong, Laboratory Director at Juniper Analytics, presented his talk on how to mitigate matrix effects in cannabis and hemp analysis.

Abstract: The food and pharmaceutical industries established methods for pesticide testing many years ago. However, cannabis is unique in that it contains over 500 compounds not found in other fruits and vegetables. A variety of extraction methods are currently used for sample preparation, each with its own benefits and disadvantages. This is further complicated by the large variety of sample matrices that are presented for pesticide residue analysis. Accuracy, precision and sensitivity of the method are frequently compromised by the presence of matrix effects. Techniques can be used to mitigate the matrix effects that each product presents, however this comes with its own set of challenges. This talk will discuss extraction methods used in the cannabis and hemp industry and highlight strategies for mitigating matrix effects, the need for improved extraction protocols, and validated methods.

Strategies to Mitigate Matrix Effects in Cannabis and Hemp Pesticide Residue Analysis

With the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill legalizing hemp and different US states legalizing Cannabis products, farmers are allowed to grow cannabis and hemp. Like any other agricultural crop, pesticides are applied to cannabis and hemp plants to protect it from pests and improve growth yield. Chronic exposure to pesticides can lead to serious health risks and therefore pesticide analysis in Cannabis and hemp is important for consumer safety and quality control. Among all of states in USA, California has issued most stringent action limits for 66 pesticides residues in cannabis flower, cannabis infused edibles, concentrates and hemp.  Normally pesticide analysis in cannabis and other food matrices is done by both GCMSMS and LCMSMS since some nonpolar and chlorinated pesticides such as pentachloronitrobenzene, chlordane and others are difficult to ionize with electrospray source used in LCMSMS systems.   We would demonstrate how we measured these compounds at low levels using LCMSMS with APCI source. The ionization mechanism of chlorinated pesticides such as pentachloronitrobenzene and others using LCMSMS system with APCI source would be presented. We analyzed all of 66 pesticides (including very hydrophobic and chlorinated pesticides typically analyzed by GCMSMS) spiked in  hemp and cannabis samples  well below the action limits specified by California State. Hemp and cannabis matrix is challenging and therefore it causes ion suppression and matrix inference for response of some of pesticides. We would demonstrate approaches to mitigate these matrix effects from cannabis and hemp. Sample preparation is the main bottleneck for achieving the high throughput analysis of pesticides in cannabis/hemp testing labs. For sample preparation, we used solvent extraction since it is a quick, cheap and easy way to achieve high extraction recovery in comparison to other time-consuming sample preparation techniques like solid phase extraction (SPE) and QuEChERS. Also, the performance of LC-MS/MS method was checked by conducting blind emerald scientific’s proficiency test for 66 pesticides in hemp. The proficiency test report generated with LCMSMS method showed acceptable results for all of 66 pesticides in hemp with no false positives and negatives.

Analytical Cannabis

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