Olivetolic acid is a polyketide made in trichome secretory cells from hexanoyl-CoA and three malonyl-CoA units. Two enzymes do the work: a polyketide synthase (often called olivetol synthase or tetraketide synthase) and olivetolic acid cyclase. The product is the aromatic ring and five-carbon (pentyl) side chain that every "regular" cannabinoid carries.
In practice
Growers never see olivetolic acid on a COA; it is consumed as fast as it is made. Its relevance is conceptual. The side-chain length is set here: when the plant starts from a shorter precursor it makes divarinic acid instead, and the whole downstream chain shifts to the propyl "varin" cannabinoids (CBGVA, THCVA, CBDVA). That is why THCV-rich plants tend to be lower in THC, not higher. Researchers producing cannabinoids in yeast also have to rebuild this step.
Don't confuse with
- Olivetol: the decarboxylated form, used in chemical synthesis; not the natural plant substrate.
- Geranyl pyrophosphate: the terpene-derived partner that joins olivetolic acid to make CBGA.
- CBGA: the product, the first true cannabinoid in the pathway.
A hair-like outgrowth of the plant's skin; in cannabis the glandular types make and store the resin holding cannabinoids and terpenes.A cannabinoid is any compound that binds the body's cannabinoid receptors or shares the typical cannabis terpenophenolic structure; the plant-made ones are phytocannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA.A COA (certificate of analysis) is a lab's signed report of what it measured in a specific sample, such as cannabinoids, terpenes, moisture and contaminants, with methods and limits.THCVA (tetrahydrocannabivarinic acid) is the acid precursor of THCV, made in trichomes from CBGVA when the plant's pathway starts from divarinic acid instead of olivetolic acid.THC (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the neutral, decarboxylated cannabinoid mainly responsible for cannabis's reported intoxicating effects; the living plant makes it almost entirely as THCA.Decarboxylation is the loss of a carboxyl group as CO2 that turns acid cannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA into neutral THC and CBD, quickly with heat, slowly with time.Geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP) is a ten-carbon terpene precursor that cannabis uses both to build monoterpenes and, joined to olivetolic acid, to make the cannabinoid precursor CBGA.CBGA (cannabigerolic acid) is the precursor cannabinoid that the plant converts into THCA, CBDA or CBCA, formed by joining olivetolic acid to geranyl pyrophosphate.A phytocannabinoid is a cannabinoid made by a plant, chiefly the terpenophenolic compounds cannabis builds in its glandular trichomes, such as THCA, CBDA and CBGA.
