When calculating the total percentage of THC after decarboxylation, the formula shown below is used. THCA (%wt. The total percentage of THC is the sum of the percentage Δ9-THC, plus the percentage of THCA, multiplied by a conversion factor. Since this factor is a number lower than 1, it's not surprising that the percentage of total THC is less than the sum of Δ9-THC plus THCA, regardless of the conversion factor.
To obtain a real potency value, you must consider both THCA and THC, but with a correction factor for THCA before adding THC. In addition, decarboxylation occurs incompletely at these high temperatures in the injector port, so no more than 70% of THCA is preserved, according to a study. This makes GC almost useless for analyzing edible products, since it is necessary to be able to differentiate between orally inactive THCA and active THC. Thank you very much for clarifying this, it can be a confusing topic trying to explain to someone why their THCA levels are not directly representative of the total final potency.
This is because the relative amounts of THCA and THC depend on the amount of heat the flower, dried bud, or extract has been exposed to. I suppose that even if you smoke, the conversion rates and efficiency will not be 100%, which means that if the label says 15% THCA, the intake will be lower. The topic of this issue is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), which occurs naturally in the plant. The same calculations as above with the molecular weights of CBGA and CBG (360.75 and 316.74 respectively) yield a conversion factor of 0.8780, slightly different from the 0.877 of THCA to THC.
The oven decarboxylates THCA before passing to the detector, so it only captures THC. When smoking, cooking or vaping, heat eliminates carboxyls, so THCA produces CO2, losing approximately 12% of its weight in the process. If you achieve a decarbonization rate of 70%, you will only download 490 mg of your 700 mg of THCA, so you will end up with 430 mg of THC + 210 mg of THCA in your BHO (490 x 0.877% 3D) and you will lose 60 mg of weight as a result of the carbohydrate discharge. Let's think of a made-up laboratory result from Hypothetical OG that used LC, let's say it has 22.32 percent THCA mass and 2.41 percent THC by mass (active THC).
The equivalent cannabinoid acids (THCA, CBDA, CBGA and CBCA, respectively) are “neutral” cannabinoids that carry a molecule of CO2 and change their molecular formula to C22H30O4 with the addition of one carbon and two oxygens.
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