====== How to Hyphenate Cannabinoids ====== Their esters, acids, and whatnot. ===== Basic Rule ===== Something like "acid" is **never** hyphenated, nor capitalized. THCa is the correct capitalization and lack of punctuation. THCA would imply something like "Tetrahydrocannabi". The lowercase "a" to imply acid is the correct way to do so. CBDa, CBGa, etc. THC-A would imply something like "Tetrahydrocannabinol Acetate". Cannabinoid names are **never** hyphenated. For example, you dont say CB-D or CB-C. THCP is THCP, you dont say "THC-Pherol", and that is //the name of the cannabinoid itself, it is not a modification to THC//. HHCP-M is Hexahydrocannabiphorol Monomethylether. Nobody would ever say "This is HHC-phorol monomethylether" but in some settings a scientist may say "This is HHCP Monomethylether", thus, HHCP-M. This is a quick rule-of-thumb that definitely has exceptions. ===== THC-O, the poorly named exception ===== This rule breaks for THCO-Acetate, which we often see as "THC-O". THC-O is a fully synthetic variant of THC which has additional groups added to it, THCO-Acetate. To mark this distinction, people shift the hyphen and remove "acetate". The funny oddity here is, THC-O - in and of itself, the O refers to "Ol", aka Binol, aka by this convention, regular THC (tetrahydrocannabin//ol//) is THC//O//... You might think that the O refers to the oxygen from the acetate group, but no. The IUPAC names show this: Regular THC: (6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-Trimethyl-3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol THC-O: (6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-Trimethyl-3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-yl acetate Note, the source of the "O" (-ol) is actually missing in THC-O! Therefore, we should probably just call this THC-Acetate. That would scare those people who confused Vitamin E Acetate with THC-Acetate though. Yes, this does apply to HHC-O as well. ===== Correct Examples ===== * THCa - **T**etra**H**ydro**C**annabinol **a**cid * THCB -**THC**anna**b**utol * HHCP - **H**exa**H**ydro**C**annabi**P**horol * HHC-O - **H**exa**H**ydro**C**annabin**o**l Acetate (Exception) * CBG - **C**anna**B**i**G**erol * CBGa - **C**anna**B**i**G**erol **a**cid * Delta-9-THC - The psychoactive form of THC, made after heating THCa. * Delta-8-THC - A naturally occurring form of THC albeit in trace amounts. Most is manufactured from CBD.