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Since the first synthetic cannabinoids were discovered in recreational drug products in 2008, new synthetic cannabinoids with no precedent in the scientific literature continue to be identified. These synthetic cannabinoids appear to be rationally designed by clandestine medicinal chemists. These unprecedented synthetic cannabinoids often feature alphanumeric code names intended to mimic the style of chemical nomenclature used by academic laboratories and pharmaceutical companies, and there is generally little, if any, information available regarding their pharmacology and toxicology at the time of first discovery.
MN 18 is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid that is an agonist for the cannabinoid receptors, with Ki values of 45.72 nM at CB1 and 11.098 nM at CB2 and EC50 values of 2.028 nM at CB1 and 1.233 nM at CB2, and has been sold online as a designer drug. It is the indazole core analogue of NNE1. Given the known metabolic liberation (and presence as an impurity) of amantadine in the related compound APINACA, it is suspected that metabolic hydrolysis of the amide group of MN-18 may release 1-naphthylamine, a known carcinogen. MN-18 metabolism has been described in literature.
AM-2201 is a recreational designer drug that acts as a potent but nonselective full agonist for the cannabinoid receptor. It is part of the AM series of cannabinoids discovered by Alexandros Makriyannis at Northeastern University.
APICA is an indole based drug that acts as a potent agonist for the cannabinoid receptors.
STS-135 (N-(adamantan-1-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indole-3-carboxamide, also called 5F-APICA) is a designer drug offered by online vendors as a cannabimimetic agent. The structure of STS-135 appears to use an understanding of structure-activity relationships within the indole class of cannabimimetics, although its design origins are unclear. STS-135 is the terminally-fluorinated analogue of SDB-001, just as AM-2201 is the terminally-fluorinated analogue of JWH-018, and XLR-11 is the terminally-fluorinated analogue of UR-144. STS-135 acts a potent cannabinoid receptor agonist in vitro, with an EC50 of 51 nM for human CB2 receptors, and 13 nM for human CB1 receptors. STS-135 produces bradycardia and hypothermia in rats at doses of 1–10 mg/kg, suggesting cannabinoid-like activity.
ADBICA (also known as ADB-PICA) is a designer drug identified in synthetic cannabis blends in Japan in 2013. ADBICA had not previously been reported in the scientific literature prior to its sale as a component of synthetic cannabis blends. ADBICA features a carboxamide group at the 3-indole position, like SDB-001 and STS-135. The stereochemistry of the tert-butyl side-chain in the product is unresolved, though in a large series of indazole derivatives structurally similar to ADBICA that are disclosed in Pfizer patent WO 2009/106980, activity resides exclusively in the (S) enantiomers. ADBICA is a potent agonist of the CB1 receptor and CB2 receptor with an EC50 value of 0.69 nM and 1.8 nM respectively.
ADB-FUBINACA is a designer drug identified in synthetic cannabis blends in Japan in 2013. In 2018, it was the third-most common synthetic cannabinoid identified in drugs seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
SDB-006 is a drug that acts as a potent agonist for the cannabinoid receptors, with an EC50 of 19 nM for human CB2 receptors, and 134 nM for human CB1 receptors. It was discovered during research into the related compound SDB-001 which had been sold illicitly as "2NE1". SDB-006 metabolism has been described in literature.
AB-CHMINACA is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid. It is a potent agonist of the CB1 receptor (Ki = 0.78 nM) and CB2 receptor (Ki = 0.45 nM) and fully substitutes for Δ9-THC in rat discrimination studies, while being 16x more potent. Continuing the trend seen in other cannabinoids of this generation, such as AB-FUBINACA and AB-PINACA, it contains a valine amino acid amide residue as part of its structure, where older cannabinoids contained a naphthyl or adamantane residue.
THJ-2201 is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid that presumably acts as a potent agonist of the CB1 receptor and has been sold online as a designer drug.
5F-AMB (also known as 5F-MMB-PINACA and 5F-AMB-PINACA) is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid from the indazole-3-carboxamide family, which has been used as an active ingredient in synthetic cannabis products. It was first identified in Japan in early 2014. Although only very little pharmacological information about 5F-AMB itself exists, its 4-cyanobutyl analogue (instead of 5-fluoropentyl) has been reported to be a potent agonist for the CB1 receptor (KI = 0.7 nM).
5F-SDB-006 is a drug that acts as a potent agonist for the cannabinoid receptors, with an EC50 of 50 nM for human CB1 receptors, and 123 nM for human CB2 receptors. It was discovered during research into the related compound APICA which had been sold illicitly as "2NE1". 5F-SDB-006 is the terminally fluorinated analog of SDB-006, just as STS-135 is the terminally fluorinated analog of APICA. Given the known metabolic liberation (and presence as an impurity) of amantadine in the related compound APINACA, it is suspected that metabolic hydrolysis of the amide group of 5F-SDB-006 may release benzylamine.
SDB-005 is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid that has been sold online as a designer drug. It is presumed to be an agonist of the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors. SDB-005 is the indazole core analog of PB-22 where the 8-hydroxyquinoline has also been replaced with a naphthalene group.
5F-AB-PINACA is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid that is derived from a series of compounds originally developed by Pfizer in 2009 as an analgesic medication, and has been sold online as a designer drug.
NNE1 (also known as NNEI, MN-24 and AM-6527) is an indole-based synthetic cannabinoid, representing a molecular hybrid of APICA and JWH-018 that is an agonist for the cannabinoid receptors, with Ki values of 60.09 nM at CB1 and 45.298 nM at CB2 and EC50 values of 9.481 nM at CB1 and 1.008 nM at CB2. It was invented by Abbott and has a CB1 receptor pEC50 of 8.9 with around 80x selectivity over the related CB2 receptor. It is suspected that metabolic hydrolysis of the amide group of NNE1 may release 1-naphthylamine, a known carcinogen, given the known metabolic liberation (and presence as an impurity) of amantadine in the related compound APINACA, and NNE1 was banned in New Zealand in 2012 as a temporary class drug to stop it being used as an ingredient in then-legal synthetic cannabis products. NNE1 was subsequently found to be responsible for the death of a man in Japan in 2014.
5F-CUMYL-PINACA (also known as SGT-25 and sometimes sold in e-cigarette form as C-Liquid) is an indazole-3-carboxamide based synthetic cannabinoid. 5F-CUMYL-PINACA acts as a potent agonist for the cannabinoid receptors, with the original patent claiming approximately 4x selectivity for CB1, having an EC50 of <0.1 nM for human CB1 receptors and 0.37 nM for human CB2 receptors. In more recent assays using different techniques, 5F-CUMYL-PINACA was variously found to have an EC50 of 0.43 nM at CB1 and 11.3 nM at CB2, suggesting a somewhat higher CB1 selectivity of 26 times, or alternatively 15.1 nM at CB1 and 34.8 nM at CB2 with only 2.3 times selectivity, however these figures cannot be directly compared due to the different assay techniques used in each case.
MDMB-FUBINACA (also known as MDMB(N)-Bz-F and FUB-MDMB) is an indazole-based synthetic cannabinoid that is a potent agonist for the cannabinoid receptors, with Ki values of 1.14 nM at CB1 and 0.1228 nM at CB2 and EC50 values of 0.2668 nM at CB1 and 0.1411 nM at CB2, and has been sold online as a designer drug. Its benzyl analogue (instead of 4-fluorobenzyl) has been reported to be a potent agonist for the CB1 receptor (Ki = 0.14 nM, EC50 = 2.42 nM). The structure of MDMB-FUBINACA contains the amino acid 3-methylvaline or tert-leucine methyl ester.
5F-ADB-PINACA is a cannabinoid designer drug that is an ingredient in some synthetic cannabis products. It is a potent agonist of the CB1 receptor and CB2 receptor with EC50 values of 0.24 nM and 2.1 nM respectively.
5F-ADBICA (also known as 5F-ADB-PICA) is an indole-based synthetic cannabinoid that is a potent agonist at CB1 receptors and CB2 receptors with EC50 values of 0.77 nM and 1.2 nM respectively.
5F-AB-FUPPYCA (also known as AZ-037) is a pyrazole-based synthetic cannabinoid that is presumed to be an agonist of the CB1 receptor and has been sold online as a designer drug. It was first detected by the EMCDDA as part of a seizure of 540 g white powder in France in February 2015.