Awesome that someone else brought that up. The ingredients in cannabis suspected of contributing to the synergistic pharmacological effects include the main constituents of the essential oil – the monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. The precursor of cannabinoid biosynthesis geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP) also reacts with a range of other structures to produce the monoterpenes. These are a very diverse chemical group, which includes cyclic and acyclic structures. They are relatively volatile and the main source of essence within the essential oil. In addition to the ‘true’ monoterpenes (C10H16) there are also a series of increasingly more oxidized families within the group. These include the alcohols (e.g.
linalool C10H18O), ethers (e.g. 1,8-cineole C10H18O), esters (e.g. bornyl acetate C12H20O2), aldehydes (e.g. citral C10H16O) and ketones (e.g. pulegone C10H16O). All of these were amongst fifty eight monoterpenes identified in cannabis in a detailed study, and these were accompanied by thirty eight sesquiterpenes. The latter are reported to be formed from a dominant precursor farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP). Both FPP and GPP are derived from isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP). The cannabinoids, sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes therefore all share a common precursor in IPP. As with the monoterpenes, the true sesquiterpenes (C15H24) are also accompanied by series of more oxidized related structures. Higher molecular weight
terpenes are also present, the next group within the ‘terpenoid skeleton family’ being the diterpenes. These are not volatile and not generally considered active constituents of an essential oil. The only significant example in cannabis is phytol which is a precursor and catabolite of chlorophyll and tocopherol Vitamin E, both of which are abundant in cannabis. Phytol has been shown to exhibit antispasmodic activity and to elevate the neurotransmitter GABA levels in central nervous system . It too, may contribute to the pharmacological properties of cannabis based medicines. If you’re interested in reading up more on this check out this paper too.
So in a nutshell, the volatiles are incredibly important for a number of reasons.