Screening of cannabinoids in industrial‐grade hemp using two‐dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence detection

Jessica Pandohee, Brendan J Holland, Bingshan Li, Takuya Tsuzuki, Paul G Stevenson, Neil W Barnett, James R Pearson, Oliver A H Jones, Xavier A Conlan

Widely known for its recreational use, the cannabis plant also has the potential to act as an antibacterial agent in the medicinal field. The analysis of cannabis plants/products in both pharmacological and forensic studies often requires the separation of compounds of interest and/or accurate identification of the whole cannabinoid profile. In order to provide a complete separation and detection of cannabinoids, a new two-dimensional liquid chromatography method has been developed using acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence detection, which has been shown to be selective for cannabinoids. This was carried out using a Luna 100 Å CN column and a Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column in the first and second dimension respectively. The method has utilised a large amount of the available separation space with a spreading angle of 48.4° and a correlation of 0.66 allowing the determination of more than 120 constituents and mass spectral identification of ten cannabinoids in a single analytical run. The method has potential to improve research involved in the characterisation of sensitive, complex matrices. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.