THC Imposters (Isomers)

Smart guy talking about “low potency” distillate, mystery peaks, Delta 8, all the goodies.

Mod Edit: The original video featured in this post was removed by youtube (unknown reasons, not our account)
https://youtu.be/0M2ufsKYwX0

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Thanks for sharing. found this very interesting as we have been testing different batches of Distillate and also noticed a wide variation in number of peaks. we thought perhaps we had done something wrong, but now its starting to make sense. Give thanks again for sharing

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Acid+heat+time cause isomerization. So any sort of acidic compound or condition in the boiling flask is gonna cause isomerization

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Basically, any result showing CBC in distillate should be closely investigated. If the peak is even slightly upfield (before) from the CBC standard, and especially if it is actually composed of 2 or more very closely convoluted peaks, it is NOT CBC, and it is most likely Δ10a-THC.

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Er… mostly Δ10a, convoluted with Δ10, and possibly other closely related isomers of THC…and remember that since the peak ROI (region of interest) was calibrated for the response factor of CBC, the actual percentages are NOT those stated. The response factors of the various Δ#THC isomers are different than that of CBC.

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First time I’ve heard that explained! I always wondered how that peak was so huge, makes sense that a different compound would skew the data like that.

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Yep. A strong absorber of the wavelengths used in detection will have a stronger (or weaker, depending on if it is set to absorbance or transmittance) response than a weak absorber of that wavelength. All the THCs have very similar absorbance patterns (across a range of UV wavelengths, for example) and response factors, so if you know the response of the Δ9 and Δ8, you can average them and come up with a response factor probably close to that of Δ10. Then apply that factor to the detected peak(s) in that region to get a better approximation of the Δ10 concentration. You obviously need the chromatogram and all the crazy values recorded during acquisition to compute this, though. If you give me an example, I can do it for you to show you how it is done.

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Do you have any examples of the UV spectra for some of the isomers? the angle of the video makes it a bit difficult to see properly and I could not find much examples online.

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I love this video. Thank you all for the upload and bringing attention to it.

I am wondering, he doesn’t talk about stereo-isomers, it looks like some of these cannabinoids could have stereoisomers based on the non-planar ring structures. My guess is that switching the ring conformations would be very energetically unfavorable but I dropped out of organic chemistry as an undergrad so I may be wrong.

Anyone have more thoughts on this? Am I just wrong? @Photon_noir

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I talk about the various conformers of Δ9 & Δ8 on my instagram page under the same name. Check it out! :blush:

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its weird he didnt talk about how distillate turns red over time or if distilled without deep enough vacuum. id think that would be relevant to this topic. i was just looking in to what specifically caused the color and went down a very similar rabbit hole, optical rotation and chromophores of the degradation pathways and was surprised how little was actually know with any degree of certainty but i shouldnt be ive long believed we aren’t ganna hav good research or data from traditional hard scientific sources until the scheduling of cannabis is changed at the federal level

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We found that with proper degumming, distillate does not turn red. This has lead many of us to believe that its not the cannabinoids degrading, but the phospholipids

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yea that seems the most plausable but its weird that its not known for sure cause phospholipids wouldnt co-elute with the cannabinoids in chromatographic analysis most lik these unknowns do would they would they? i say that to mean it seems lik it would be easy to test. and dennis parker posted evidence that he’s extract that was made in a cryogenic sublimator at sub 1 micron vacuum after multiple passes and after a procedure lik the one u described

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so you suggest to always do a degum?

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Its part of my sop now. If I’m not performing chromotography, then I like to degum with enzymes from @Shadownaught

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You not using degum when you do chromatography?

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No, it’s absolutely necessary, however since I’m using an Alkane for the chroma, saline degum makes sense. If I’m just shooting for first pass and done, enzymes in the etoh makes more sense

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These types of presentations are most excellently appreciated, by both presenter, and those who bring them to us hash nerds awareness here.

God bless us all !
This is the way !

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de gum after distillation ?

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yes

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