UVA and UVB Photolysis of Natural and Synthetic Cannabinoids Studied by Online Mass Spectrometry
Ambar S. A. Shaikh, Kelechi O. Uleanya, Kgato P. Selwe, Caroline E. H. Dessent
TL;DR
This study uses mass spectrometry to investigate how UVA and UVB light affect the stability of various cannabinoids, finding that natural cannabinoids degrade significantly under UVB but not UVA.
Contribution
The first directly comparable photolysis measurements for key phytocannabinoids using an online mass spectrometry approach.
Findings
Natural cannabinoids like THC and CBD show significant photodegradation under UVB (280 nm) light.
Synthetic cannabinoids (JWH-018, MDMB-FUBINACA) show negligible degradation under UVB.
No significant degradation was observed for any cannabinoids under UVA (365 nm) light.
Abstract
Cannabinoids are of considerable current interest for use in pharmaceutical and non-medical consumer products. While there have been significant efforts to understand their chemical stability under ambient conditions, only sparse attention has been paid to characterising their photostability. Here, we present UVA (365 nm) and UVB (280 nm) photolysis measurements of eight representative cannabinoids, including natural compounds (THC, CBD, THCA, CBDA), metabolites (THC-COOH, THC-OH), and synthetic analogues (JWH-018, MDMB-FUBINACA). Measurements were performed using a novel online-electrospray mass spectrometry (MS) approach, where online photolysis of cannabinoid solutions was conducted with laser light-emitting diodes. MS detection was used to monitor precursor compound decay and photoproduct formation. Complementary results obtained via UV–Vis spectroscopy of photolysed cannabinoid…
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Taxonomy
TopicsForensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis · Mass Spectrometry Techniques and Applications · Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research