What does naturally extracted d9-THC mean, and how does it differ from other types of THC?

If you’re a regular Cantrip consumer, you may have noticed by now that we include a little badge on all of our products. While its size is diminutive, it carries surpassing importance.

A quick primer

d9-THC is the active ingredient in Cantrip products, and the primary active compound in cannabis products sold both at dispensaries and often from hemp. D9-THC is the resulting comound of what happens when molecule that the cannabis plant grows, d9-THCA, is heated to the point where the acidic part of the molecule breaks off. It is this breaking off that “activates” the THC, and makes it something that can intoxicate the brain. It is distinct from d8-THC in that d9-THC is the primary version of the molecule that the plant grows, where as d8-THC occurs in nature at much lower natural rates.

Because hemp products are limited to cannabis plants containing less than 0.3% d9-THC by weight, that means there are some limitations in obtaining d9-THC directly and naturally from the plant. In some cases, manufacturers will extract CBD from hemp plants and use a chemical conversion process that involves an acidic catalyst in order to manufacture d9-THC. We refer to this as synthetic, semi-synthetic, or converted THC in the industry, and its existence is controversial. 

Cantrip uses only naturally extracted THC, and today I’m going to explain why.

Natural is the way to go

There are several reasons to use naturally extracted THC over synthetic THC, and the biggest in my opinion is safety.

I’m a chemical engineer by training and my mother is a PhD in toxicology who has worked for Johnson & Johnson, Celgene, and HHS (yes, that HHS.) One thing that comes up in a lot of our conversations are purity and safety. While I can’t legally tell you that naturally extracted THC is safe, I can tell you that we don’t know if converted THC is safe.

One of the things they teach you in basic chemistry is that whenever you run a reaction – that is, whenever you have conditions where molecules are slamming into one another – you create byproducts in addition to the target compounds. When CBD is converted into d9-THC, it creates d8-THC as a substantial byproduct – and this can be seen in the test results for that compound. In low dose beverages, this d8-THC doesn’t usually register as it comes in small quantities, but typically it is around a 8:1 ratio of d9:d8.

More concerningly, when this conversion reaction occurs, there are inevitable byproducts that we don’t know about that are created during the reaction in trace amounts. In the pharmaceutical world, byproduct analysis is performed with MS/NMR or other methodology for identifying unknown compounds, isolating them, and separating them away from your target molecule to achieve high purity.

In HPLC, the most common methodology for potency analysis in the THC world, you only find what you’re testing for – it’s the nature of the machine. In this case, we might seem some d8-THC, but we certainly won’t see any of the compounds we don’t know about and may not even know they’re there.

Natural also carries more full spectrum

Naturally extracted THC on the other hand is created by extracting and concentrating the d9-THC already in the plant, even from small amounts less than 0.3%. But because there’s no reaction conditions, we are not creating new molecules and therefore the byproducts do not exist in this form factor. The nice upswing is the presence of some minor cannabinoids such as CBG and CBC – these exist in small amounts but create a more full spectrum effect which may contribute to a better quality of experience for the consumer.

 

Figure 1: Analysis of distillate used in Cantrip products. Note no d8-THC exists but several minor cannabinoids do, tell tale signs of naturally extracted cannabinoids.

There are challenges to this method of course – very specific and high level technology is involved, as well as massive amounts of biomass. It takes thousands of pounds of hemp material to create a single kilogram of d9-THC. Luckily, each kilogram of d9-THC distillate has the potential to make 100,000 beverages, and so we can make it work. Doesn’t hurt that it’s good for farmers to grow that much crop.

Got questions about naturally extracted versus synthetic THC? Feel free to drop us a line via email, check out our discord server, or connect with us on social media at the links below.