Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), University of Arizona’s tech transfer office, has licensed spectrometer technology to US-based ingredients appraisal device developer called Botanisol Analytics.

Botanisol Analytics will commercialise a spectrometer that functions from the vacuum ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectrometers usually measure wavelengths and light deviation, but Botanisol’s device will precisely identify a material’s chemical ingredients.

TLA said unspecified strategic partners would receive commercial prototypes of Botanisol’s device for alpha-stage testing later in 2018.

The company is initially targeting industrial hemp and marijuana-based products, to exploit markets that have been troubled by chemical safety and efficiency concerns. Cannabis is currently legal for medicinal or recreational purposes in 30 US states, plus Washington DC.

Botanisol Analytics is a subsidiary of Botanisol Holdings, a bioproduction R&D group that chiefly works with botanical substances.

David Talenfeld, director of Botanisol Holdings and an alumnus of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, said: “[Cannabis toxicity] is a huge problem, but it is also a great opportunity for us to make sure that patients are protected.

“We want to be able to tell the customer about the safety and potency of the product.”

Botanisol emerged from TLA’s strand of NSF I-Corps, a US government-backed commercialisation initiative administered by the National Science Foundation. It is based on research by Tom Milster, Pramod Khulbe and Barry Gelernt at the College of Optical Sciences.