2-PG.2-palmitoylglycerol

2-Palmitoylglycerol is the monoester of glycerol and palmitic acid on the central carbon, a saturated congener of 2-arachidonoylglycerol present in spleen, gut and nervous tissue and released by the digestion of triglycerides whose palmitate occupies the sn-2 position. It shows no measurable affinity for CB1 or CB2. Its reputation comes from the 1998 paper that introduced the notion of an entourage effect: combined with 2-AG, it increased the latter's apparent binding and adenylate cyclase inhibition while remaining inactive alone, a potentiation attributed to saturation of the degrading enzymes — yet in that same paper only 2-linoleoylglycerol, not 2-palmitoylglycerol, actually inhibited the inactivation of 2-AG. The result did not survive the 2016 re-evaluation, in which the compound potentiated none of the parameters measured and behaved as a functional antagonist of 2-AG signalling. The best documented side is now metabolic rather than cannabinoid: the molecule stimulates GLP-1 secretion by enteroendocrine cells through GPR119 and GPR40, in cells and in mice. Human data are lacking, no pharmacokinetic, efficacy or safety study covering the molecule given alone; the entourage effect so often invoked in the hemp trade cannot claim this compound.

Source

Absent from hemp: the molecule is not one of the phytocannabinoids and has never been reported in Cannabis sativa L. It is endogenous in mammals, where it accompanies 2-arachidonoylglycerol in spleen, gut and nervous tissue (Ben-Shabat 1998). It also has a direct dietary origin: pancreatic lipase cleaves triglycerides at positions 1 and 3 and leaves the central monoester intact, so that palmitate carried at the sn-2 position of dietary fats reaches the gut as 2-palmitoylglycerol. The mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids it belongs to also serve as a food emulsifier under the code E 471. Laboratory samples come from synthesis.

Two pathways converge on the same molecule. Within cells, hydrolysis of phosphoinositides by phospholipase C releases a diacylglycerol that diacylglycerol lipase cleaves at position 1, leaving a 2-monoacylglycerol whose chain depends on the fatty acid esterified at the central carbon, here palmitic acid. In the intestinal lumen, pancreatic lipase produces the same compound from dietary triglycerides carrying palmitate at the sn-2 position. The tissue pool therefore reflects both the remodelling of membrane phospholipids and lipid intake.

European Union

No control measure at European Union level. The substance does not appear among the new psychoactive substances notified or assessed by the EUDA, it has been the subject of no Council implementing decision and is listed in no schedule of the 1961 and 1971 United Nations conventions. It circulates on the one hand as a research reagent and analytical standard, and on the other as a constituent of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E 471), an authorised additive for which the EFSA scientific panel concluded in 2017 that no numerical acceptable daily intake was needed and that it raised no concern at the reported uses and use levels.

France

An endogenous substance and a common food constituent, not listed on the French lists of narcotics and psychotropic substances. The decree of 22 February 1990 covers in annex III the tetrahydrocannabinols, their esters, ethers and salts as well as the salts of the aforementioned derivatives: 2-palmitoylglycerol is an ester of palmitic acid and glycerol, with no structural kinship to tetrahydrocannabinol, so it falls neither under this generic clause nor under any ANSM listing by name. No prohibition targets it, and the mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids of which it is part are authorised as a food additive under the code E 471.

Sources: EUR-Lex, UNODC, CND, ANSM, IUPHAR/BPS, ChEBI, EUDA. Our method.

Family

Endocannabinoid or related mediator › Endocannabinoidome

Verification

Every fact on this entry was checked against its primary sources on 20 October 2026.

Wikipedia (English)

No dedicated article.

1. 1Ben-Shabat S. et al., An entourage effect: inactive endogenous fatty acid glycerol esters enhance 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol cannabinoid activity, European Journal of Pharmacology 1998 (new tab)PMID 9721036
2. 2Murataeva N. et al., Where's my entourage? The curious case of 2-oleoylglycerol, 2-linolenoylglycerol, and 2-palmitoylglycerol, Pharmacological Research 2016 (new tab)PMID 27117667
3. 3Funatsu Y. et al., Fatty acid composition in 2-monoacylglycerol modulates GLP-1 secretion, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2025 (new tab)PMID 40885046
4. 4Röhrig W. et al., Quantification of 24 circulating endocannabinoids and related compounds in human plasma, Journal of Lipid Research 2019 (new tab)PMID 31235475
5. 5EFSA Scientific Panel, Opinion on mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E 471) as food additive, EFSA Journal 2021, building on the 2017 re-evaluation (new tab)DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6885
6. 6Lu L., Williams G., Doherty P., 2-Linoleoylglycerol is a partial agonist of the human cannabinoid type 1 receptor that can suppress 2-arachidonoylglycerol and anandamide activity, Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research 2019 (new tab)PMID 31872059

SMILES

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC(=O)OC(CO)CO

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