Aminoalkylindoles (AAIs) are a family of
cannabinergic compound that act as a
cannabinoid
Cannabinoids () are several structural classes of compounds found primarily in the ''Cannabis'' plant or as synthetic compounds. The most notable cannabinoid is the phytocannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (delta-9-THC), the primary psychoact ...
receptor
Receptor may refer to:
* Sensory receptor, in physiology, any neurite structure that, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse
*Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and respond ...
agonist
An agonist is a chemical that activates a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor to produce a biological response. Receptors are Cell (biology), cellular proteins whose activation causes the cell to modify what it is currently doing. In contrast, an R ...
. They were synthesized by the pharmaceutical company
Sterling-Winthrop in the early 1990s with a commercial potential as a new family of
nonsteroidal A nonsteroidal compound is a drug that is not a steroid nor a steroid derivative. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are distinguished from corticosteroids as a class of anti-inflammatory agents.
List of nonsteroidal steroid receptor mo ...
anti-inflammatory agents.
Aminoalkylindole is a class of synthetic cannabinoid compounds originally developed for cannabinoid receptor pharmacology studies but later emerged as drugs of abuse. They are often found in designer drugs known as synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) or "synthetic marijuana," and their use has been associated with various adverse health effects, including acute kidney injury (AKI) as shown in a 2012 study.
Legality
Aminoalkylindoles are now commonly found in
synthetic cannabis
Synthetic cannabinoids, or neocannabinoids, are a class of designer drug molecules that bind to the same receptors to which cannabinoids ( THC, CBD and many others) in cannabis plants attach. These novel psychoactive substances should not be co ...
designer drugs
A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, while avoiding classification as illegal and/or detection in standard drug tests. ...
.
In the United States, the DEA added the aminoalkylindoles
JWH-200 to
Schedule I of the
Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal government of the United States, federal drug policy of the United States, U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of ...
on 1 March 2011 for 12 months.
References
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External links
Aminoalkylindoles ChEBI
Chemical Entities of Biological Interest, also known as ChEBI, is a chemical database and ontology of molecular entities focused on "small" chemical compounds, that is part of the Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) effort at the European Bioinfor ...