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.

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

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.

Ah yes it is , mixing terms up I often get them mixed up. THCa loses a hydrogen (EDIT, actually four)I believe to become CBNa , http://link.springer.com...cle/10.1007%2FBF01932433

Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid is decarboxalated to form THC. The carboxyl grouping from position 2 is being removed.

-eg

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

THC loses 4 hydrogen atoms to become CBN...

I posted the wrong pathway here by mistake and can not delete it, sorry.

-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...


-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?



-eg

Thanks, I haven't seen that before, interesting stuff.

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