Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. In recent years, cannabis and hemp-based products have become increasingly popular for recreational use, edibles, beverages, health care products, and medicines. The rapid detection and differentiation of phytocannabinoids is, therefore, essential to assess the potency and the therapeutic and nutritional values of cannabis cultivars.
The SpiderMass system is composed of an IR-laser handheld microsampling probe connected to a mass spectrometer through a transfer tube. The analysis was performed on different plant organs from freshly cultivated cannabis plants in only a few seconds. Different abundancies of the two acid phytocannabinoids were found along the plant as well as between different cultivars. Overall, these results introduce direct analysis by SpiderMass as a compelling analytical alternative for rapid hemp analysis.
The hemp plant or cannabis Cannabis sativa L. The popularity of cannabis has increased over the last few years due to its unparalleled versatility of use, particularly for medicinal purposes. These cannabinoids display remarkable similarities as structural isomers but differ in their pharmacological properties. It is, therefore, important to also consider additional chemical characterization of the cultivar composition in order to better decipher the pharmacological effects associated with cannabis products [ 2 , 4 ].
Various methods have, therefore, been developed around the analysis of cannabis. Increased temperatures, indeed, trigger decarboxylation and other reactions prevent their detection in the acid forms [ 2 ]. On the other hand, LC-MS, where decarboxylation is avoided, has been used for the quantitative detection of THCA and CBDA along with other cannabinoids from dried cannabis [ 7 ], hemp seed batches, food and feed products [ 8 , 9 ], seized street cannabis samples and medicines [ 10 ], as well as hemp consumer products such as oils, plant material, creams, and cosmetics [ 11 ].
An interesting kinetic study on the thermal degradation of 14 phytocannabinoids was performed by low resolution mass spectrometry LRMS targeted analysis from dried plant material [ 12 ]. The aforementioned examples demonstrate the usefulness of LC-MS-based techniques for the quantification of cannabinoids, but this approach requires multistep sample preparation drying, grinding, homogenization, extraction, etc. Furthermore, the analysis cannot be performed rapidly on fresh plant samples directly in situ and in vivo.
