Ten semi-synthetic THC analogs, including chlorinated cannabinoids, were identified in a vape oil product sold in Japan.

ABSTRACT

Since around 2021, products such as e-cigarette liquid cartridges, herbal products, and gummy products, claiming to contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) analogues, have been seen for sale on the internet. Recently, products claiming to contain other THC derivatives have appeared. In this study, we identified the ingredients in products distributed on the internet that claim to contain THC derivatives. The e-cigarette cartridge product analyzed in this study was obtained from Japan in September 2024. One milligram of the oil product was treated with 1 mL of acetonitrile under ultrasonication. The resulting solutions were used for gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and liquid chromatography–photodiode array–mass spectrometry (LC–PDA–MS) measurements. After isolating and purifying unknown components from the product, structural analysis was performed by measuring ¹H, ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and various two-dimensional NMR (COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY) and LC with hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight MS. The analysis revealed that chlorinated HHCs (i.e., (9R)-2-chloro-HHC, (9S)-2-chloro-HHC, (9R)-4-chloro-HHC, (9S)-4-chloro-HHC, (9R)-2,4-dichloro-HHC, and (9S)-2,4-dichloro-HHC) were the major components, and chlorinated dihydro-iso-THCs (i.e., 10-chloro-dihydro-iso-THC, 8-chloro-dihydro-iso-THC, and 8,10-dichloro-iso-THC) were the minor components isolated and identified from the product. Furthermore, Δ⁹-THCB-O-butanoate, a compound in which the hydroxyl group at the C1 position of Δ⁹THCB was butanoylated, was detected.