Ripped this off some random forum who ripped it elsewhere:

The Cannalytics - Cannabis Fingerprint kit (previously called Cannalyse) is a unique mini-laboratory for home use. The fingerprint kit also contains a unique standardized & high performance developing protocol for thin layer chromatography, specific for cannabinoids and a total-extraction specific for Cannabis. The cannabinoids will be separated and identified on special impregnated TLC-plates.

Only a minimal amount of sample (100 mg) is needed for total cannabinoid extraction.
The Cannalytics Kit contains enough for 12 individual tests.

Obrázek



98 pounds sterling
$166 US.

another site sells 12 tests for;
146 euros!

There has been alot of talk about these, so I am sure all you out there have heard of them. I am also sure you already know how valuble they could be, for example a breeding program, selecting prospective mother plants, testing potency of male plants!
But after forking out $200 after shipping from Europe, for 12 tests it limits you to using them solely for novelty testing or maybe selecting a mother from 10 different plants based on THC / CBD. Any decent breeding program will require hundreds if not thousands of tests.
I have seen out of all the conversations regarding this product only one person clever enough (or just not stoned enough) to ask could we not make these ourselves?
And the answer is a big 10-4, in fact before the people at Alpha Nova decided to sell these. The method they stole was and is used regularly (well not as much in the laboratory nowadays, the dye used is now known to be toxic). I never commented on this previously because for 50 tests it cost like $100 with shipping, so for the solvents and so fourth it contains and its relatively hassle free and a decent deal, in my eyes that did not amount to robbery, but now it is, so...


Lets examine just what you get, in depth.

Obrázek

12 eppendorf tubes
3 pipettes
12 TLC plates
Gloves
1 empty spray bottle
1 developing chamber (big jar)
1 fuel burner (small candle)
Instructions
Reference card
1 small bottle of solvent/devolping agent (75% chloroform + 25% 1,2-Dichloroethane)
1 small bottle of vizualizing agent (0.3%w/v aqueous solution of Diazo Fast Blue B salt)
Cotton wool balls (filter)
Capillary tube

As you can see the TLC plates, the solvent and the dye are the only things that one may have trouble with. If one purchases fast blue b salt from a dye company you get it in pound quantities relatively cheaply. For a 0.3%w/v solution with water is not using much! 1 pound of fast blue b salt would produce many liters of visualizing agent. Enough for many thousands of tests!

The procedure is to put a wieghed chopped up sample, into the eppendorf tube. The pipette is used to add the solvent. Close the lid and shake and let it rest for a predetermined amount of time, open the eppendorf tube and drop a cotton wool ball in. The cotton wool acts like a filter, a capillary tube is used to take sample and is then spotted on to the TLC plate. The spotted TLC plate placed in the developing chamber (big jar), and the solvent from above is carefully added until the bottom of the TLC plate is 3-5mm
under the level of the solvent. The developing chamber sealed, and the chromatogram is allowed to devolop for a predetermined time ( about 20 minutes). It has finished when the solvent front nears the top of the TLC plate. Take the plate out and let it dry.
Now you take that small empty spray bottle and fill it with the stuff from the other bottle (visualizing agent). Take the spray bottle and give the dry TLC plate a light spray, instantaneously the cannabinoids will be seen as in the first picture given.

You can also use fluorescent TLC plates and use ultraviolet light to visualize the plates. Putting a flame underneath reveals extra spots by pyrolysis. Iodine solutions work so does sulfuric acid but for the best results you need at least 75% chloroform in your solvent and fast blue b salt to visualize the spots.

note; When doing many tests, your tests have to be standardized. i.e every sample has to weigh exactly the same. Exactly the same amount of solvent has to be used every time. How long you leave the tlc plate in the developing chamber has to the same every time, so on and so forth you get it.

References, I wont even give any references to the literature that uses this and similar methods alot. Just take the patent that Alpha Nova filed for there ridiculously priced Cannalytics test.
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=Ou2WAAAAEBAJ&dq=thc+fingerprint
The chemistry of the dye Fast blue B salt is also very interesting. Like why it changes color, in the presence of different cannabinoids.

Its just TLC really but seems like cannabis shops should perform these tests on every strain/batch they get in and have them displayed next to the buds.  It just seems really intuitive to pick a strain good for your needs based on an understanding of the different effects.  It makes it so much easier since those reagents compositions and comparative standards are known.

Just a quick note on this test as shown above and in the earlier thread.  The above diagram showing spot position is some sort of typo in the packaging.  

Within the kit is a reference card showing the actual spot positions:



This was confirmed via GC/MS on another forum.

- ender

I haven't tried using paper chromatography, as I always keep my eye out for cheap silica gel plates that pop up on auction.  A onetime purchase can last a long time.

The thread you're referring to is flawed because it became apparent after a while that the packaging diagram couldn't be correct.  But by that time, the error of the packaging diagram had been repeated in several of the figures in the thread and that forum doesn't allow posts to be edited after an hour.   No way to go back and make corrections, and reposting corrected images gets redundant and confusing. 

I'd came to believe there must be an error in the packaging diagram and that lead me to finding someone on a cannabis forum that had actually purchased the Cannalytics test and provided the above reference card that comes in the kit.  I think that's the value of the kit more than the supplies to do the TLC.  As it is, it's very overpriced and a poor value.  You can assemble what you need for a fraction of the cost.

The reference card shown above might be correct for assignments but I think it's also misleading.  It over emphasizes the minor components.  For example, I don't think you'd see very many samples with a similar concentration of CBD & THC.  Such strains might exists but I don't think they're common.

In order to show the minor components, you'd have to spot samples at a fairly high concentration.  But then you'd have trouble resolving minor spots near the large THC spot.  Doing 2-D TLC allows higher sample loadings, without such a compromise in spot resolution.

I don't think the Cannalytics test is being sold anymore, but I could be wrong.  I seem to recall the company Alphanova was working on an improved test.

I believe demand for such a test kit clearly exists.  A lot of home growers would like a way to identify the chemical characteristics of strains.  People using medicinal cannabis in the states that have approved it would also have an interest in what exactly they're using.  It seemed the Feds were raiding testing labs set up to do cannabis analysis, even though medicinal cannabis had been approved on the state level.

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/02/that_dea_raid_at_the_medical_m.php

That's a case of a lab trying to be in compliance by seeking a testing license only to then be raided and closed down.  So the Feds are preventing people from having legitimate testing facilities where medical cannabis is legal on the state level.  That doesn't seem logical or in the best interest of people legally using medicinal cannabis does it?

Perhaps if the above lab had taken a more careful approach in seeking a license and not had cannabis samples in hand when the Feds came knocking it would have turned out differently.  On the other hand, maybe the Feds are simply engaging in what amounts to harassment, because they can't actually stop the states from passing medical cannabis legislation.

Within such a context, it would be of value to have a user friendly home testing kit that had some analytical value.  The Cannalytics test tries to be such a test, but it's not very good and overpriced.

- ender

Oh I totally agree.  TLC is actually a very powerful analytical technique.  It's quite common to find experienced synthetic chemists who poo poo the technique as just a simple crude means to check the purity of samples and the progress of a reaction, and this reflects what people have been exposed to in their education and work experience.

To some degree this is a cultural phenomena.  In European counties, TLC seems more accepted as a true quantitative technique.  In the USA, not so much. 

Perhaps this reflects the general availability of more expensive instrumentation in the states which in turn suppresses the development and use of the technique.  The knee jerk reaction that you must have a HPLC or GC/MS to answer every problem is short sighted in my opinion.  I became interested in TLC because it seemed something that was actually achievable as a resource to answer questions of interest on forums such as this one.

- ender

Well, my point was it's used more overseas than in the US, not that it isn't used in the US.