Quantification of cannabinoids in medicinal Cannabis oils using bench-top mid-infrared (MIR), near-infrared (NIR), and portable NIR spectroscopy with chemometric analysis

The growing use of Cannabis-based medicinal products has highlighted the need for analytical methods to ensure their quality and safety. In this study, mid- and near-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometric modeling was employed for the quantification of cannabinoids in medicinal oils from Brazil and Italy. Samples were analyzed using both benchtop and portable instruments, and the developed calibration models showed low prediction errors. For the Brazilian oils, with CBD contents ranging from not detected to 0.88%, the best model, showed RMSEP value, using benchtop NIR spectroscopy, of 0.03%. For the Italian samples, with CBD contents between 0.1 and 33.6%, the corresponding RMSEP was 0.62%, confirming the adequate predictive performance of the proposed models. Overall, the results demonstrate the feasibility of infrared spectroscopy as a rapid and non-destructive approach for the quality control of Cannabis medicinal oils, regardless of the oily vehicle, brand, or geographical origin.