Can anyone recommend a method of isolating terpenes (including sesquiterpenes) from dried hemp? The idea is to separate the cannabinoids fraction from the terpenic fraction. We will use supercritical fluid extraction to extract the cannabinoid fraction. I've read that when it comes to terpenes, it's better to use subcritical FE. We will then get more terpenes but still a lot of cannabinoids. Will flash chromatography be good for separating terpenes from cannabinoids?
In first step, If you are looking for some specific terpenoids and its standards are available, you could to use gas chromatography with a column related to these compounds for separation and identification.
In second step, if you do not know what types of terpenes are there in dried organs of plant, you should to trial the prototype of the plant using GC/MS, LC/MS for separating and identifying techniques. Then, you will diagnose that what compounds are there in the prototype and you should to use the existence standards to check, separate, identify and purity of them.
Gas chromatography will not be useful for this purpose I guess. Unfortunately, the sesquiterpenoids and cannabinoids are both quite apolar and careful chromatography is needed to separate them. In the supercritical CO2 extraction you will get everthing and given the size difference you just need to use adequate column chromatography to exploit the size difference). It should be not a problem. Generally, the cannabinoids (depending on which ones you are interested) are present in far bigger amounts than the terpenes. You may also vapor distill the fraction as cannabinoids will remain and most terpenoids will go into the water vapor phase. Another method, especially for bulk amounts, is CCC and CPC, which beautifully separates them.
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