I have made several lab tests with our in-house NIR-Spectrometer designed for the most common cannabinoids CBD+CBDA (Total CBD) and THC+THCA (Total THC). So even though it does not show the other cannabinoids or isomers it still give a hint on what to use. Already from start I decided to only use 95% Ethanol as solvent, well aware that there are more suitable solvents. As catalysts I have so far tested 3 different acids - the weakest of the was Citric Acid, the stromgest was Hydrochloric Acid, and then a more uncommon acid - Chloroauric Acid (HAuCl4). Each isomerization was done with 1000 ml 96% Ethanol in a Soxhlet with a magnetic stirrer and with te mperature as close to the boiling temp 78.4 C as possible. Reflux was done for 36 hours. Also 50 gram 99.9% pure CBD-isolate was added each time. For the citric acid, 30 gram was added. For the hydrochloric acid, 36% HCl was added to lower the pH to 1.5. And for the chloroauric acid it contained 10% Au, and the equivakernt to 80 ppm Au was added.
The results for the Citric Acid shows a total measuruble cannabinoid comtent of ~45% with ~25% total THC and ~19% total CBD… And for the Hydrochloric Acid a total cannabinoid content of ~55% wirh ~36% total THC and ~17% totral CBD.And for thje Chloroauric Acid a total cannabinod content of ~60% with ~41% total THC and ~19% total CBD.
So Citric Acid transformed less CBD to THC and Chloroauric Acid transformed most. And the total measurable cannabinoids was also the highest with the Chkoroauric Acid, confirming that it’s a far better catalyst than hydrochloric acid.
Since I already earlier had made Chloroauric Acid, and gold is a metal that cannot oxidize nor react chemically with anything, but the Au+ ions in this liquid can be reduced back to Au, but hardly form any chemical compounds. Like plainum, gold is an effective catalyst for chemical reactions. So it simply make sense to try it as it also is an acid.
I will send a sample to a lab that also can detect Δ8-THC, Δ8-iso-THC, and 7 other so far unknown but separately identified cannabinoid isomers for a more detailed analysis of the last batch - the one made with chloroauric acid. For the other two (citric acid and hydrochloric acid) I have such lab results, and they show mainly Δ9-THC and with about 1:6 ratio between D8T : D9T for the citric acid and 1:3 ratio for the one made with hydrochloric acid. There was also an unlikely high concentration of CBC, which instead must be Delta-10-THC. The high “CBC” is about 1 / 3 of total readable cannabinoids in both cases.
Amazing! I’d try shorter rxn times with less unknowns for high d9 if that’s your goal. If you’ve got the equipment there you should be able to test incrementally. Id imagine 5-6 hours of reflux should get you where you need to go. I find lower temperatures help as well. My TAC stay at 99% generally. With easy to identify d8 d9 and CBD. With a longer rxn time at lower temperatures
Your current 36h should be plenty at 50-60c or something
I’ve also found there’s a CBD isomer that comes out at a similar time as CBD. Which might be the 17-19% “wall” that seems to be present, which may actually not be unreacted CBD. I think most labs conflate them if they’re using a GC or have a lazy operator.
The lab result has arrived (>99.9% CBD-isolate isomerized in EtOH with 80 ppm gold as HAuCl4 (10% Au solution). Reflux for 36 H at close to 78 C. Acid neutralized with Na2CO3. Then all EtOH distilled off, and extract washed in distilled water, and finally remains of EtOH and H2O removed in vacuum owen.The extract is red and like an extremely sticky super-glue.
In conclusion, it contains 60.96% total identified cannabids, which is the highest rate I so far has seen using EtOH as solvent. CBD content is 11.7%, which tells that a complete isomerization was not done. Δ8-THC is 1.5%, Δ9-THC is 28.7%, Δ8-iso-THC is 15.0%. The most strange part is that many of the other known cannabinoids have been created - 0.03% CBDV, 0.06% CBL, 0.6% CBC, 0.8% CBN and 0.11% THCV, besides 2 unknown cannabinbnoids.
I usually distil off thew alcohol prior to washing, and have never seen so many of the other known cannabinoids before, so I doubt that thishas anything to do with that.