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Formula | C16H21NO3 |
Molar mass | 275.348 g·mol−1 |
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Acetoxymethylketobemidone (O-AMKD), is an opioid designer drug related to ketobemidone, with around the same potency as morphine. It was first identified in Germany in October 2020. [1] [2]
Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a highly potent synthetic piperidine opioid drug primarily used as an analgesic. Because fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, its primary clinical utility is in pain management for cancer patients and those recovering from painful surgical operations. Fentanyl is also used as a sedative. Depending on the method of delivery, fentanyl can be very fast acting and ingesting a relatively small quantity can cause overdose. Fentanyl works by activating μ-opioid receptors. Fentanyl is also commonly known as fentanyl citrate and is sold under the brand name Sublimaze, among others.
Carfentanil or carfentanyl, sold under the brand name Wildnil, is an extremely potent opioid analgesic which is used in veterinary medicine to anesthetize large animals such as elephants and rhinoceroses. It is typically administered in this context by tranquilizer dart. Carfentanil has also been used in humans for imaging of opioid receptors. It has additionally been used as a recreational drug, typically by injection, insufflation, or inhalation. Deaths have been reported in association with carfentanil.
Sufentanil, sold under the brand names Dsuvia and Sufenta, is a synthetic opioid analgesic drug approximately 5 to 10 times as potent as its parent drug, fentanyl, and 500 times as potent as morphine. Structurally, sufentanil differs from fentanyl through the addition of a methoxymethyl group on the piperidine ring, and the replacement of the phenyl ring by thiophene. Sufentanil first was synthesized at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1974.
Phenoperidine, is an opioid analgesic which is structurally related to pethidine and is used clinically as a general anesthetic.
3-Methylfentanyl is an opioid analgesic that is an analog of fentanyl. 3-Methylfentanyl is one of the most potent opioids, estimated to be between 400 and 6000 times stronger than morphine, depending on which isomer is used.
Parafluorofentanyl is an opioid analgesic analogue of fentanyl developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the 1960s.
Lofentanil or lofentanyl is one of the most potent opioid analgesics known and is an analogue of fentanyl, which was developed in 1960. It is most similar to the highly potent opioid carfentanil (4-carbomethoxyfentanyl), only slightly more potent. Lofentanil can be described as 3-methylcarfentanil, or 3-methyl-4-carbomethoxyfentanyl. While 3-methylfentanyl is considerably more potent than fentanyl itself, lofentanil is only slightly stronger than carfentanil. This suggests that substitution at both the 3 and 4 positions of the piperidine ring introduces steric hindrance which prevents μ-opioid affinity from increasing much further. As with other 3-substituted fentanyl derivatives such as ohmefentanyl, the stereoisomerism of lofentanil is very important, with some stereoisomers being much more potent than others.
β-Methylfentanyl is an opioid analgesic that is an analogue of fentanyl.
Butyrfentanyl or butyrylfentanyl is a potent short-acting synthetic opioid analgesic drug. It is an analog of fentanyl with around one quarter of its potency. One of the first mentions of this drug can be found in document written by The College on Problem of Drug Dependence, where it is mentioned as N-butyramide fentanyl analog. This document also states that the article describing its clinical effects was published in 1987. It is an agonist for the μ-opioid receptors.
U-47700, also known as U4, pink heroin, pinky, and pink, is an opioid analgesic drug developed by a team at Upjohn in the 1970s which has around 7.5 times the potency of morphine in animal models.
Acetylfentanyl is an opioid analgesic drug that is an analog of fentanyl. Studies have estimated acetylfentanyl to be 15 times more potent than morphine, which would mean that despite being somewhat weaker than fentanyl, it is nevertheless still several times stronger than pure heroin. It has never been licensed for medical use and instead has only been sold as a designer drug. Acetylfentanyl was discovered at the same time as fentanyl itself and had only rarely been encountered on the illicit market in the late 1980s. However, in 2013, Canadian police seized 3 kilograms of acetylfentanyl. As a μ-opioid receptor agonist, acetylfentanyl may serve as a direct substitute for heroin or other opioids. Common side effects of fentanyl analogs are similar to those of fentanyl itself, which include itching, nausea and potentially serious respiratory depression, which can be life-threatening. Fentanyl analogs have killed hundreds of people throughout Europe and the former Soviet republics since the most recent resurgence in use began in Estonia in the early 2000s, and novel derivatives continue to appear.
Furanylfentanyl (Fu-F) is an opioid analgesic that is an analog of fentanyl and has been sold as a designer drug. It has an ED50 value of 0.02 mg/kg in mice. This makes it approximately one fifth as potent as fentanyl.
In the United States, the opioid epidemic is an extensive, ongoing overuse of opioid medications, both from medical prescriptions and illegal sources. The epidemic began in the United States in the late 1990s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when opioids were increasingly prescribed for pain management, resulting in a rise in overall opioid use throughout subsequent years. The great majority of Americans who use prescription opioids do not believe that they are misusing them.
Orthofluorofentanyl is an opioid analgesic that is an analog of fentanyl and has been sold online as a designer drug. While the structural isomer p-fluorofentanyl was one of the first illicit fentanyl analogues identified in 1981, Orthofluorofentanyl did not appear on the illicit market until August 2016.
4-Fluoroisobutyrylfentanyl (also known as 4-FIBF and p-FIBF) is an opioid analgesic that is an analog of butyrfentanyl and structural isomer of 4-Fluorobutyrfentanyl and has been sold online as a designer drug. It is closely related to 4-fluorofentanyl, which has an EC50 value of 4.2 nM for the human μ-opioid receptor. 4-fluoroisobutyrylfentanyl is a highly selective μ-opioid receptor agonist whose analgesic potency is almost ten times of that reported for morphine.
The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the significant medical, social, psychological, demographic and economic consequences of the medical, non-medical, and recreational abuse of these medications.
Isotonitazene is a benzimidazole derived opioid analgesic drug related to etonitazene, which has been sold as a designer drug. It has only around half the potency of etonitazene in animal studies, but it is likely even less potent in humans as was seen with etonitazene. Isotonitazene was fully characterized in November 2019 in a paper where the authors performed a full analytical structure elucidation in addition to determination of the potency at the μ-opioid receptor using a biological functional assay in vitro. While isotonitazene was not compared directly to morphine in this assay, it was found to be around 2.5 times more potent than hydromorphone and slightly more potent than fentanyl.
Flunitazene (Fluonitazene) is a benzimidazole derivative with opioid effects, first developed in the 1950s as part of the research that led to better-known compounds such as etonitazene. It is one of the least potent derivatives from this class to have appeared as a designer drug, with only around the same potency as morphine, but nevertheless has been sold since around 2020, and has been linked to numerous drug overdose cases.