I wish…
the first step is “I don’t know.” That I got in spades.
then there’s reading. unfortunately it’s chemistry. which means there is so much damn background that must have gelled appropriately before you can make heads or tails out of what you’re reading. AND you’ve probably got to actually test much of that “background” in real world situations (just like everything else) to know that you (mostly) know what you’re claiming to have a handle on. my minor in chemistry was more than 30 years ago.
I’m certainly of the opinion that those solvent filled balloons the plant is holding up are “special” as far as having an environment that is both conducive to enzymatic synthesis (traditionally thought of as requiring an aqueous enviromenet) and accumulation of cannabinoids (piss poor solubility in an aqueous environment without taking it a fair ways from traditional enzymatic optima).
I certainly intend taking a stab at the papers @moronnabis has posted over here: Butane works but no theory! A few dozen hints I don’t actually expect that I’ll get much past “I don’t know…”
which I believe was where @moronnabis was trying to get us to start.