“Background/Objectives: The industrial extraction and purification processes of Cannabis sativa L. compounds are critical steps in creating formulations with reliable and reproducible therapeutic and sensorial attributes.
Methods: For this study, standardized preparations of chemotype I were chemically analyzed, and the sensory attributes were studied to characterize the extraction and purification processes, ensuring the maximum retention of cannabinoids and minimization of other secondary metabolites. The industrial process used deep-cooled ethanol for selective extraction.
Results: Taking into consideration that decarboxylation occurs in the process, the cannabinoid profile composition was preserved from the herbal substance to the herbal preparations, with wiped-film distillation under deep vacuum conditions below 0.2 mbar, as a final purification step. The profiles of the terpenes and cannabinoids in crude and purified Full-spectrum Extract Cannabis Oil (FECO) were analyzed at different stages to evaluate compositional changes that occurred throughout processing. Subjective intensity and acceptance ratings were received for taste, color, overall appearance, smell, and mouthfeel of FECO preparations.
Conclusions: According to sensory analysis, purified FECO was more accepted than crude FECO, which had a stronger and more polarizing taste, and received higher ratings for color and overall acceptance. In contrast, a full cannabis extract in the market resulted in lower acceptance due to taste imbalance. The purification process effectively removed non-cannabinoids, improving sensory quality while maintaining therapeutic potency. Terpene markers of the flower were remarkably preserved in SOMAÍ’s preparations’ fingerprint, highlighting a major qualitative profile reproducibility and the opportunity for their previous separation and/or controlled reintroduction. The study underscores the importance of monitoring the extraction and purification processes to optimize the cannabinoid content and sensory characteristics in cannabis preparations.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40733057/
“This study highlights the effectiveness of SOMAÍ’s extraction and purification processes in optimizing the sensory and therapeutic quality of full-spectrum medicinal cannabis extracts for herbal preparations. The method employed was explicitly tailored to collect cannabinoid fractions from the natural cannabis flower oils. The resulting purified full-spectrum extract is selectively concentrated in the profiled beneficial compounds naturally found within the flower, successfully removing compounds lacking scientifically proven therapeutic value. While these unwanted compounds will have an impact on the final taste of the decarboxylated full-spectrum oil, herbal medicines created from unpurified full cannabis extract oil will, therefore, have a range of tastes, such as earthy, bitter, and grassy, all of which are strong and generally regarded as unpleasant for therapeutic adherence. The process developed herein is to obtain a standardized THC-dominant crude extract. The same process is applied to CBD-dominant crude extract. With these two extracts, the pharmaceutical company can prepare medicines with a precise and previously defined ratio between the two main bioactive components, an objective not achievable if depending exclusively on the present ratio in the herbal substance.”