Why synthesise cannabinoids if they can be purified from natural sources?
The Natural vs Synthetic Debate
There’s a lot of debate nowadays about the natural vs synthetic origins of minor cannabinoids. Naturally, various strains of the cannabis plant produce ample amounts of THC, CBD, and CBG. Whereas minor cannabinoids are trickier – there can be anywhere from 1% to untraceable amounts of them. For instance, CBN (Cannabinol) is often found in very low concentrations in the plant, making CBN isolate particularly challenging to obtain through natural extraction. This might not sound very problematic, however, if you were to extract 1 kilogram of some compound that constitutes as little as 0.05% of biomass, this means that you’d be facing a 2 ton of biomass problem. And that’s with an idealised 100% extraction efficiency!
The Synthetic Solution
To overcome the mindboggling situation where your factory needs to run 24/7 with labour-intensive processes, tons of biomass and tens of tons of flammable solvents, there is a solution. And that is (semi) synthetically obtained products. Usually, the question of natural vs synthetic is portrayed similarly to something like CBD vs CBG, as two uniquely different things. However, in the purest form – the molecule that was obtained naturally is completely identical to the one produced during any synthetic reaction. Those are two indistinguishable substances, whereas with CBD vs CBG or CBN vs CBG – these two are entirely unique compounds.
Understanding Semi-Synthetic Compounds
As far as cannabinoids are concerned – you may have met the term semi-synthetic compound. In research and development of new cannabinoid products, we often think of the natural ways the plant uses in biosynthesis. Cannabis plant can turn CBG into CBD or CBD to THC. Exactly the same thing can be done much more efficiently during synthesis by following the biosynthetic logic and using natural starting materials, thus using a single step transformation of natural starting material into a more valuable or more potent product. Hence, this pathway is entitled as semi-synthetic.
Purity and Impurities: The Key Difference
The molecules are the same, but here the second question might arise. What can be the distinctive factor between natural extracted and synthetically produced cannabinoids? The main contrasting feature between the two could be purity and impurities. This is not always the case, however, one must always be aware.
Natural Extracts:
- May have leftover plant waxes, oils or extraction solvents
- Susceptible to contamination by pesticides and herbicides
- Contain THC, requiring special laborious chromatography for removal
Synthetic Products:
- Unaffected by pesticides or agricultural chemicals
- Can be made virtually pure because of strict process control
- Offer alternative methods of synthesis and purification
We will be discussing this topic in more detail in upcoming articles, so if you’re interested – stay tuned!
Sanobiotec’s Commitment to Excellence
At Sanobiotec, we thrive for excellence in each step – extraction, manufacturing, synthesis, purification and quality control. Our in-depth expertise allows us to perfect our products by using the most appropriate methods of purification for all products we offer – be it natural or (semi) synthetic.
We employ:
- State-of-the-art equipment for distillation, extraction, chromatography and more
- Gas and liquid chromatography systems
- Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) machines
As our final products are formulated, we always make the extra step and verify our results in a third-party laboratory – for full transparency and, simply, because we care that our customers get the purest, highest quality and potency products on the market.
If you want to join our satisfied clients – be sure to drop us a line or book a call!