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THC to CBN?

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DreaMTripper

DreaMTripper

Rising Star
I've been reading that THC reduces to CBN via oxidation in UV light and or heat.
CBN is a good remedy for insomnia so I was wandering if anyone has tried doing a reduction(I mean oxidation)
on your bud?
Apparently CBN capsules are available in certain states of the US now.
 
DreaMTripper said:
I've been reading that THC reduces to CBN via oxidation in UV light and or heat.
CBN is a good remedy for insomnia so I was wandering if anyone has tried doing a reduction
on your bud?
Apparently CBN capsules are available in certain states of the US now.
Click to expand...

I doubt it's common, after all, the THC is the 'fun part.'

It looks like it should work fine though. Grind your bud, cook w/ UV radiation (a black light should work), extract w/ nonpolar solvent.

Sounds like a plan

Blessings
~ND
 
DreaMTripper said:
I've been reading that THC reduces to CBN via oxidation in UV light and or heat.
CBN is a good remedy for insomnia so I was wandering if anyone has tried doing a reduction
on your bud?
Apparently CBN capsules are available in certain states of the US now.
Click to expand...

Link the reference and maybe I can help you, i've done some photochemistry with terpenes. Usually short wave UV (220nm) in a homemade photoreactor covered up with a garbage bag. Sometimes the reactions require a sensitizer like xanthone to get the reaction started.

In the case of plants, they contain their own sensitizers, cannabis plants need lots of UV to produce cannabinoids. I don't know anything about growing but I am guessing there are methods of controlling UV to produce higher amounts of CBD or THC in the plants.

Though outside of plants, its a different story. Of course it can still happen naturally by sunlight and time, you could try leaving out in the sun and open air for a month, but if you want any kind of reaction that's going to give you an appreciable conversion, you'll need to optimize.


Oh and the title of your thread is a bit misleading in terms of chemistry, you are saying THC is being reduced to CBN, i think you probably meant it in terms of degrading or decomposing into CBN, but reduction is actually the opposite of oxidation, which is what is happening here.
 
CBNA is CBN only there is a carboxyl grouping on position 2.

tetrahydrocannabinolic acid will convert to cannabinolic acid (CBNA) via exposure to light, heat and air (and time), then the formed cannabinolic acid is decarboxalated to give Cannabinol (CBN)

-eg
 
People used to use isomerizer machines, which would use ethyl alcohol and H2SO4 (as well as petroleum ether and sodium bicarbonate) to convert other cannabinoids into THC, it was a procedure to do the opposite of what you are proposing...

The isomerizer machines never really became popular...
more than 200,000 isomerizers are said to have been sold with the expectation that the device will increase potency of weak marijuana up to six times. After 5 or 6 years on the market however, The isomerizing process hasn't really become popular. The main reasons appear to be because it's still too much trouble, and most people don't enjoy the taste of the "iso-hash" or oil which results since there is generally a a lingering inspection bicarbonate of soda that is used to neutralize the the sulfuric acid, some complain that "iso-hash" doesn't get them all that high, Robert Connell Clarke's marijuana botany provides a fuller discussion.
Psychedelics encyclopedia; Stafford; page 188
Click to expand...

-eg
 
Yeah, you could experiment.

You could try extracting it into a non-polar solvent, and then exposing it to short-wave UV with good stirring to keep exposure to air. Having it in solution helps the UV light hit the molecules evenly.

Or you could try the reverse just like DreaMTripper suggested, grind it up fine and expose it to UV in open air, then extract.

You could probably monitor the change of THC to CBN by TLC
 
That would be interesting to see and very easy to do. Glass bowl with a clingfiln cover outside, although maybe some air across it would be good, however it would have to be set up so it doesn't actually blow away.
I imagine it would also have to be extracted from the bud first
 
Have you seen patent US 20040143126 A1?

ABSTRACT
Methods of converting cannabidiol to Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol or Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol are described. The described methods produce higher yields and higher purity compared to prior art methods.

US20040143126A1 - Conversion of cbd to delta8-thc and delta9-thc - Google Patents

Methods of converting cannabidiol to Δ 8 -tetrahydrocannabinol or Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol are described. The described methods produce higher yields and higher purity compared to prior art methods.
www.google.com
Click to expand...

-eg
 
Sorry that patent was for CBD.

There is a total synthesis of CBN using olivetol...

There are also plenty of chemical manipulations of cannabinoids starting from natural sources...



CBN was first synthesized in the early 1940s by Adams in the US and Todd in the UK.

-eg
 
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