Analysis of Potency in Cannabis Material using Automated Dispersive Pipette Extraction and LC-MS/MS

Extraction < 15 minutes
Automation Compatibility: Hamilton

The need for fast robust methods of evaluating cannabinoid content continues to rise with the increase in cannabis use. The chemical complexity of cannabis plant material and subsequent extracts may benefit from solid phase extraction prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. Current procedures either have very laborious sample preparation methods or lack them altogether. An analytical procedure for the determination of 9 cannabinoids in plant material was developed using Dispersive Pipette XTRaction on a Hamilton Microlab NIMBUS96 platform followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Dispersive Pipette XTRaction requires minimal sorbent resulting in reduced matrix effects and reasonable levels of THC to avoid saturating the detector. The automated extraction method can process up to 96 samples simultaneously in under 15 minutes thereby minimizing within-run sample variability and maximizing throughput. The versatility of the sample preparation method could allow for its use with a variety of matrices including many edible forms of cannabis for both qualitative and quantitative analysis.