Extraction, purification and in vitro assessment of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of policosanols from non-psychoactive Cannabis sativa L.

Policosanols (PCs) are bioactive compounds extracted from different natural waxes.In this work, the purification, characterization and assessment of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity was carried out on PCs from an innovative source, i.e. a waxy material from supercriticalfluid extraction (SFE) of non-psychoactive Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) inflorescences.Starting from this material, PCs were obtained by microwave-assisted trans-esterification and hydrolysis, followed by preparative liquid chromatography under normal phase conditions.The purified product was characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD).In vitro cell-free and cell-based antioxidant and antiinflammatory assays were then performed to assess their bioactivity.