The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates and opioids, commonly morphine and heroin, as well as derivatives of many of the compounds found within raw opium latex. The primary three are morphine, codeine, and thebaine.
Desmethylprodine or 1-methyl-4-phenyl-4-propionoxypiperidine is an opioid analgesic drug developed in the 1940s by researchers at Hoffmann-La Roche. Desmethylprodine has been labeled by the DEA as a Schedule I drug in the United States. It is an analog of pethidine (meperidine) a Schedule II drug. Chemically, it is a reversed ester of pethidine which has about 70% of the potency of morphine. Unlike its derivative prodine, it does not exhibit optical isomerism. It was reported to have 30 times the activity of pethidine and a greater analgesic effect than morphine in rats, and it was demonstrated to cause central nervous system stimulation in mice.
Pethidine, also known as meperidine and sold under the brand name Demerol among others, is a fully synthetic opioid pain medication of the phenylpiperidine class. Synthesized in 1938 as a potential anticholinergic agent by the German chemist Otto Eisleb, its analgesic properties were first recognized by Otto Schaumann while working for IG Farben, in Germany. Pethidine is the prototype of a large family of analgesics including the pethidine 4-phenylpiperidines, the prodines, bemidones, and others more distant, including diphenoxylate and analogues.
Phenoperidine, is an opioid analgesic which is structurally related to pethidine and is used clinically as a general anesthetic.
Hydroxypethidine (Bemidone) is an opioid analgesic that is an analogue of the more commonly used pethidine (meperidine). Hydroxypethidine is slightly more potent than meperidine as an analgesic, 1.5x meperidine in potency, and it also has NMDA antagonist properties like its close relative ketobemidone.
Acetoxyketobemidone (O-Acetylketobemidone) is an opioid analgesic that is an acetylated derivative of ketobemidone. It was developed in the 1950s during research into analogues of pethidine and was assessed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime but was not included on the list of drugs under international control, probably because it was not used in medicine or widely available. Nevertheless, acetoxyketobemidone is controlled as an ester of ketobemidone, which is included in Schedule I of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961.
Meprodine is an opioid analgesic that is an analogue of pethidine (meperidine). It is closely related to the drug prodine, the only difference being that meprodine has an ethyl group rather than a methyl at the 3-position of the piperidine ring.
Propiram is a partial μ-opioid receptor agonist and weak μ antagonist analgesic from the ampromide family of drugs related to other drugs such as phenampromide and diampromide. It was invented in 1963 in the United Kingdom by Bayer but was not widely marketed, although it saw some limited clinical use, especially in dentistry. Propiram reached Phase III clinical trials in the United States and Canada.
Norpethidine is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is both a precursor to, and the toxic metabolite of, pethidine (meperidine). It is scheduled by UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is a Schedule II Narcotic controlled substance in the United States and has an ACSCN of 9233. The 2014 annual manufacturing quota was 11 grams (0.39 oz).
Pethidinic acid is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is both a metabolite of and a precursor to pethidine (meperidine). It is scheduled by UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is a Schedule II Narcotic controlled substance in the United States and has an ACSCN of 9234. The 2014 annual manufacturing quota was 6 grams.
Benzethidine is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is related to the clinically used opioid analgesic drug pethidine.
Etoxeridine is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is related to the clinically used opioid analgesic drug pethidine (meperidine).
Furethidine is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is related to the clinically used opioid analgesic drug pethidine (meperidine), but with around 25x higher potency. According to another source, Furethidine is 500/30 = 16.7 x the potency of pethidine.
Morpheridine (Morpholinoethylnorpethidine) is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is related to the clinically used opioid analgesic drug pethidine (meperidine). It is a strong analgesic with around 4 times the potency of pethidine, and unlike pethidine, does not cause convulsions, although it produces the standard opioid side effects such as sedation and respiratory depression.
Pheneridine is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is related to the opioid analgesic drug pethidine (meperidine).
Sameridine is a 4-phenylpiperidine derivative that is related to the opioid analgesic drug pethidine (meperidine).
Pethidine intermediate A is a four-phenylpiperidine derivative that is a precursor to the opioid analgesic drug pethidine (meperidine). It is not known to have any analgesic activity in its own right, however other derivatives of pethidine with a 4-cyano group in place of the carboxylate ethyl ester have been found to be active, so pethidine intermediate A might also show opioid effects. It is scheduled by UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is a Schedule II Narcotic controlled substance in the United States and has an ACSCN of 9232. The 2014 annual manufacturing quota was 6 grammes.
AH-7921 (Doxylam) is an opioid analgesic drug selective for the μ-opioid receptor, having around 90% the potency of morphine when administered orally. It was discovered in the 1970s by a team at Allen and Hanburys located in the United Kingdom. The drug is considered a new psychoactive substance (NPS) in which it is synthetically created in laboratories to mimic that of controlled substances. The substance has also been sold on the internet since 2012 as a "research chemical". When sold online it may be called the alternative name doxylam, not to be confused with doxylamine. AH-7921 has never progressed to clinical trials. The DEA is not aware of any medical usage in the United States, and has not insisted the Health and Human Services department (HHS) to conduct any medical research of the substance's uses.
4-Fluoropethidine is a drug that is a derivative of pethidine (meperidine), which combines pethidine's opioid analgesic effects with increased monoamine reuptake inhibition. It is around 50% less potent than pethidine as an opioid analgesic, but conversely is 50% more potent as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, with other derivatives such as the 4-iodo and 3,4-dichloro analogues being even more potent dopamine reuptake inhibitors again. However, none of these compounds substitute for cocaine or produce stimulant effects in animals, suggesting that they still act primarily as opioid analgesic drugs in practice. Its action and degree of relation to pethidine means that it may be controlled in those countries which have laws about controlled-substance analogues; it is not itself listed in the Controlled Substances Act 1970.
3,14-Diacetyloxymorphone is an opioid analgesic which has never been marketed. It is an acetyl derivative of oxymorphone. It is related to other acetylated morphone derivatives, including 3,6-diacetyloxymorphone, 3,8,14-triacetyloxymorphone, 3,6,8,14-tetraacetyloxymorphone, noroxymorphone analogs of all or most of the above, and 3,6,14-triacetyloxymorphone, a derivative of oxymorphone whose structure-activity relationship suggests is 800% the potency of the parent drug versus 250% for 3,14-diacetyoxymorphone. Both were developed in Austria in the 1920s along with other derivatives of the strong dihydromorphinones and these drugs are generated by reacting oxymorphone with either acetic anhydride or acetyl chloride at various temperatures in the 80-160 °C for several hours; 3,6,14-triacetyloxymorphone may be more easily made when a catalyst is used but elevated pressure or reaction in vacuo or under a nitrogen or noble gas atmosphere is not required.[Citation Needed]
