抄録
A regulatory limit has been established in Japan for the total concentration of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and Δ9-
tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (Δ9-THCA), in cannabidiol (CBD) products. For CBD isolate powder, a raw material, a strict limit of
10 ppm is set for total Δ9-THC levels. However, due to the reported monitoring ions shared by CBD and Δ9-THC on LC-MS/MS
analysis, conventional dilution-based methods suffer from significant signal interference, which makes accurate quantification of Δ9-
THC in high-CBD-content matrices. In this study, we developed the normal-phase liquid chromatographic (DCpak® P4VP column)
preparation for an LC-MS/MS method to accurately quantify trace levels of Δ9-THC in CBD isolate powder. This sample preparation
was validated based on spike-and-recovery tests (repeatability and intermediate precision) at three concentration levels (1, 5, and 10
μg/g in sample) which demonstrated excellent accuracy (94.3%–108.9%) and RSD (≤3.6%) using internal standard curves with Δ9-
THC-d3, respectively. This improved method enables reliable quantification of at regulatory levels in high-CBD products such as
isolates and others in compliance with the Japanese guidelines for analytical method validation of food additives.