UIC-2017-092 – Quantifying Terpenes in Cannabis Plant Material and Extracts

Medicinal cannabis contains aromatic compounds called terpenes. Many of these are biologically active and believed to aid in the capacity of the plant to treat certain ailments. Quantification of these compounds is crucial in monitoring the quality of the medicine produced, whether from plant material or extracts. The inventor proposes the use of headspace gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) to quantify terpenes in cannabis plant material and extracts. Extracting and quantifying terpenes from the cannabis plant can be time-consuming and difficult due to the vast number of compounds contained within the plant. This method takes advantage of the volatility of the terpenes to employ a headspace extraction of the terpenes from the material which results in a simple and clean method for quantifying these compounds from multiple matrices. The proposed method would allow laboratories within the medicinal cannabis industry to have a quick and simple procedure for quantifying terpenes within both plant samples and extracted samples of medicinal cannabis and cannabis products. Nelson Grihalde grihalde@otm.uic.edu 312-996-4129