Date of Award

9-2025

Access Control

Campus-Only Access

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

Advisor

Dr. J. Kim

First Reader

Dr. J. Kim

Second Reader

Dr. S. Suwal

Third Reader

Dr. J. Heo

Abstract

The goal of this research project was to identify and quantify the terpenes in five commercial cannabis products (dried bud, kief, two tinctures, and a pain cream) using gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Terpene identification and quantification were conducted using GC-MS and GC-FID, with a standard sample containing 21 terpenes of known concentrations. To determine the most effective extraction conditions, three organic solvents (ethanol, acetonitrile, and ethyl acetate) were employed. Additionally, the effects of extraction time on terpene yield were investigated by analyzing aliquots collected at five different time intervals, ranging from one hour to seven days post-extraction. The results revealed that terpene concentrations varied across the five cannabis products. Although numerous terpenes were detected, myrcene, limonene, caryophyllene oxide, α-humulene, linalool, eucalyptol, and nerolidol were identified as the major terpenes. In the solvent study, ethyl acetate proved to be the most effective extraction solvent, yielding 1.5 to 1.6 times higher terpene concentrations compared to ethanol and acetonitrile, respectively. In the extraction time study, it was found that terpene concentrations decreased over time, likely due to degradation. For the dried bud sample, the concentration of myrcene decreased fourfold after seven days compared to the concentration extracted after one hour.

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