Abstract
Accurate potency testing is essential for quality control, regulatory compliance, and consumer safety in commercial cannabis products, particularly as edible and oil formulations increasingly contain complex mixtures of major and minor cannabinoids. In this study, a selective ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of 24 cannabinoids in cannabis-derived oils and gummy products. The method included cannabinoids commonly targeted in AOAC-relevant potency testing, together with additional minor, acidic, varin-type, and degradation-related cannabinoids to support full-spectrum product assessment. Chromatographic separation was optimized to resolve structurally related isomers with identical or highly similar MRM transitions, including Δ9/Δ8 cannabinoid pairs and their acidic and varin analogues. The method demonstrated good linearity across analyte-specific calibration ranges, with LOQs of 0.05-0.1 ng/mL and LODs of 0.005-0.05 ng/mL. Bias values for quality control samples at 4, 400, and 800 ng/mL ranged from -19.3% to 10.1%, meeting the predefined acceptance criterion of +/-20%. Recovery in gummy matrices fortified at 0.04, 0.4, and 4 μ/g was generally within 80-110%, confirming acceptable extraction performance. Application to 14 hemp oil and 18 hemp- or cannabis-infused gummy products revealed wide variations in cannabinoid profiles, with concentrations spanning ng/mL to mg/mL in oils and ng/g to mg/g in gummies. Label comparison further demonstrated substantial deviations for CBD, Δ9-THC, and several minor cannabinoids. This validated method provides a practical tool for comprehensive potency testing, quality assessment, and label-accuracy evaluation of commercial cannabis-derived oils and edible products.