Weed Decarboxylator from Amazon

So, I get an email from Amazon promoting its “Decarboxylator” product. The Amazon page shows a picture describing the device and shows a picture of someone loading it with spinach leaves. The title of the page says “Decarboxylator Machine to Make Butter, Oil, and More“. A link to ecru, the seller, extols the virtue of herb consumption for greater wellness. The device obviously is just a heated container with digital thermometer and temperature setpoint adjustment.

Why bring this up? This was sent to me, an organic chemist who knows about chemical decarboxylation. What on Earth is retail decarboxylation about says I. Well, a simple Google search immediately turns up the answer. Processing weed for use in edibles. The silly allusions to vegetable processing is just a ruse.

Apparently, a carboxylated form of tetrahydrocannibinol, THC, is Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid or THCA and is present is large quantities in unprocessed marijuana. THCA is the direct precursor of THC in the plant. When you smoke weed or bake it into brownies the burning or baking process decarboxylates THCA giving the psychoactive form, THC. However, when you extract weed with a solvent without heating, the decarboxylation is very slow and affords reduced potency. Weed for edibles must be heat treated to induce decarboxylation for maximum potency. The Wikipedia page on tetrahydrocannabinolic acid is very informative. The THCA precursor is not without pharmacological effects which is interesting in itself, but that is for another day.

This handy-dandy whizbang device does the deed for home producers of edibles. Ain’t it grand?