Specific Aim 1: To deliver useful suggestions for the selection of the optimal and most suitable method of extraction of cannabinoids in biomedical and cannabis derived samples for therapeutic or adult recreational use. Cannabis products have recently regained much attention due to the high pharmacological potential of their cannabinoid content. Widely used sample preparation strategies for the extraction of cannabinoids are required for the specific application to either plant materials or biological matrices. Several analytical techniques, and, in particular, chromatographic methods, such as TLC, GC and HPLC, are being widely used. The most preferred extraction method is to use Super Critical Extraction (SCE), and the possibility of including preprocessing steps enables adaptation of the industrial chemistries that require thorough analyses so as to provide optimal complex mixtures capable of scale-up production and FDA compliance.

We propose to manufacture pharmaceutical-grade CBD (>98.5% and < 0.3% Δ9-THC) and a standardized CW fraction (30% CBD and < 0.3% Δ9-THC) both following cGMP guidelines by utilizing supercritical fluids and near-critical fluids with or without polar co-solvents such as alcohols (Superfluids). These fluids are gases, such as carbon dioxide, which when compressed, exhibit enhanced thermodynamic properties that can be "finetuned" for rapid and selective extraction of bioactive molecules. We will obtain enough quantities of high CBD content cannabis sativa from growers California and/or NIDA to conduct the proposed research.