Process for the purification of cannabidiol from herbal material

A process for purifying cannabidiol from herbal material, the process comprising:

• extracting the herbal material with a solvent or supercritical carbon dioxide to obtain an extract containing approximately 50-70% cannabidiolic acid (CBDA);
• winterizing the extract using at least one solvent at a temperature ranging from about −20° C. to about 5° C. to remove non-polar constituents, followed by distillation to remove residual organic solvent;
• co-crystallizing CBDA with L-proline from an aliphatic solvent to obtain crystalline CBDA-L-proline co-crystals;
• dissociating CBDA from the co-crystals using an aliphatic solvent and water at a temperature ranging from about 50° C. to about 60° C. and removing the conformer and distilling the solvent;
• decarboxylating CBDA into cannabidiol by heating the dissociated material to a temperature ranging from about 80° C. to about 150° C.;
• purifying the dissociated material through crystallization using a suitable solvent to obtain substantially pure crystalline cannabidiol with a purity of at least 99.0% by weight and 99.0% by area %.