Metals and organic compounds in the biosynthesis of cannabinoids: a chemometric approach to the analysis ofCannabis sativasamples

Abstract

Illicit production and trade of Cannabis sativa affect many societies. This drug is the most popular and easy to produce. Important information for the authorities is the production locality and the indicators of a particular production. This work is an attempt to recognise correlations between the metal content in the different parts of C. sativa L., in soils where plants were cultivated and the cannabinoids content, as a potential indicator. The organic fraction of the leaves of Cannabis plants was investigated by GC-FID analysis. In addition, the determination of Cu, Fe, Cr, Mn, Zn, Ca and Mg was realised by spectroscopic techniques (FAAS and GFAAS). In this study, numerous correlations between metal content in plants and soil, already confirmed in previous publications, were analysed applying chemometric unsupervised methods, that is, principal component analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis, in order to highlight their role in the biosynthesis of cannabinoids.

The overview of existing knowledge on medical cannabis plants growing

“…CBD is negatively correlated with available Ca/Zn and Mg/Cu ratios. Positive correlations of magnesium with Δ 8 -THC have been reported with the hypothesis that this nutrient may be cofactor in the enzyme responsible for its production (Coffman and Gentner 1975, Pate 1994, Radosavljevic-Stevanovic et al 2014.…”

“…Similar results have been seen for micronutrient requirements. Positive correlations of iron with Δ 8 -THC have been reported with the hypothesis that this nutrient may be cofactor in the enzyme responsible for its production (Pate 1994, Radosavljevic-Stevanovic et al 2014. CBD content in hemp plants is decreasing with increasing iron concentration (Radosavljevic-Stevanovic et al 2014).…”

“…Positive correlations of iron with Δ 8 -THC have been reported with the hypothesis that this nutrient may be cofactor in the enzyme responsible for its production (Pate 1994, Radosavljevic-Stevanovic et al 2014. CBD content in hemp plants is decreasing with increasing iron concentration (Radosavljevic-Stevanovic et al 2014). The negative correlation of iron (Fe) and chromium (Cr) with CBD can be explained because the catalase responsible for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide from the CBDA synthase reaction is a member of the class that contains four heme iron groups.…”

“…The transition state, O=Fe (IV) -enzyme (+) is energetically unstable, so these reactions are disadvantageous (Boon et al 2007, Vlasits et al 2010. Although chromium is not important for plant growth, its negative correlation with CBD is explained by the fact that Fe and Cr occur together in nature as a complex oxide (Radosavljevic-Stevanovic et al 2014).…”

Application of principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses in the classification of Serbian bottled waters and a comparison with waters from some European countries

“…Application of multivariate (chemometric) analysis to complex data sets has attracted high scientific interest in recent years and they are now used in a wide range of application. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Several chemometric-based studies have been performed to analyze bottled waters utilizing different physico-chemical parameters. 3,9,12 In this study, PCA and HCA were used to elaborate the multidimensional data sets formed from the contents of major ions in the considered bottled waters (previously log--transformed and standardized).…”