Metabolomic differentiation of Cannabis sativa cultivars using 1H NMR spectroscopy and principal component analysis

The metabolomic analysis of 12 Cannabis sativa cultivars was carried out by 1H NMR spectroscopy and multivariate analysis techniques. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the 1H NMR spectra showed a clear discrimination between those samples by principal component 1 (PC1) and principal component 3 (PC3) in cannabinoid fraction. The loading plot of PC value obtained from all 1)H NMR signals shows that Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) are important metabolites to differentiate the cultivars from each other. The discrimination of the cultivars could also be obtained from a water extract containing carbohydrates and amino acids. The level of sucrose, glucose, asparagine, and glutamic acid are found to be major discriminating metabolites of these cultivars. This method allows an efficient differentiation between cannabis cultivars without any prepurification steps.