AB-CHFUPYCA.

AB-CHFUPYCA belongs to the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, within the family of pyrazole-carboxamides with a valinamide residue, where the pyrazole core replaces the indazole of the PINACA and CHMINACA series. The pharmacological studies found give an unusual result for this class: in a β-arrestin 2 recruitment assay (Deventer and colleagues, 2023), the molecule activates CB1 only weakly and only at the highest concentrations, with no usable plateau, does not activate CB2, and behaves rather as a blocker of both receptors; in a calcium-signal assay at human CB1, Bäckberg and colleagues (2023) found it inactive. It therefore does not display the full CB1 agonism that characterises the dangerous synthetic cannabinoids and that separates them from THC, a mere partial agonist. Deventer and colleagues conclude that the immediate health threat is probably limited, given the low activity of these compounds at the cannabinoid receptors. What remains established is slight: in vitro measurements, a metabolism described in human microsomes, and nothing else. Human data are entirely lacking, no study in humans or in animals having been found, and the weak activity observed in vitro says nothing about the safety of a clandestine product whose real composition is unknown.

Source

An entirely synthetic molecule, absent from hemp and from every living organism. It circulates in two forms: a powder sold as a laboratory chemical, and a deposit sprayed onto an inert plant carrier intended to be smoked, which is the form in which it was identified in Japan. One documented case of mislabelling, the molecule being sold under the name of another compound of the series, illustrates the fact that the stated identity of such a product is never reliable information.

No known biosynthetic pathway: the molecule exists in no living organism and derives from no plant precursor. It is obtained chemically, with no relation whatsoever to the cannabigerol pathway that gives rise to the cannabinoids of hemp.

European Union

No control measure specific to the European Union: the substance has been the subject of neither a joint report nor a risk assessment by the European drugs agency, and it appears in no schedule of the United Nations Conventions of 1961 and 1971. Classification therefore depends on national laws, which diverge: France has named it since 2017, while other States rely on general laws covering psychoactive substances. The series remains monitored by the European early warning system, which received in June 2015 a French notification concerning the analogue 5F-AB-FUPPYCA, also called AZ-037, then in 2021 a German notification concerning the 5,3-AB-CHMFUPPYCA regioisomer. Outside the Union, the Chinese generic classification of synthetic cannabinoids adopted in 2021 covers only regioisomers of the 5,3 type: the 3,5 form, that of AB-CHFUPYCA, escapes it, but Deventer et al. note that this class of pyrazoles seems to have found little audience on the illicit market.

France

A substance classified by name as a narcotic in France. AB-CHFUPYCA, cited under this code and under its synonym AB-CHMFUPPYCA, was entered in annex IV of the decree of 22 February 1990 setting the list of substances classified as narcotics, by the decree of 31 March 2017 published in the Journal officiel of 6 April 2017. This is therefore not an indirect attachment through the generic clause covering tetrahydrocannabinols, their esters and their ethers, a clause that does not cover this chemical family: the molecule is targeted in its own right. The code AB-CHMFUPPYCA, cited as a synonym, designates one or the other of the two regioisomers (3,5 or 5,3) depending on the publication: the list does not say which. The consolidated ANSM list moreover associates with this code an erroneous systematic name, copied from the substance preceding it in the list (A-836,339), whereas the designation AB-CHFUPYCA appears there unambiguously. Production, possession, transfer and use fall under the criminal regime for narcotics. This substance has no place in the wellness hemp or CBD trade.

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

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › New psychoactive substance

Class

pyrazole-carboxamide (valinamide)

Verification

Classification, sources and binding values checked on 20 October 2026; text read against its sources and Wikipedia.

Wikipedia (English)

AB-CHFUPYCA (new tab)

Article paired by the molecule's structure (InChIKey), revision read on 19 October 2026. Read as a second opinion, never cited as a source.

1. 1Deventer MH, Norman C, Reid R, McKenzie C, Nic Daéid N, Stove CP. In vitro characterization of the pyrazole-carrying synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist 5F-3,5-AB-PFUPPYCA and its structural analogs. Forensic Sci Int, 2023 (new tab)PMID 36640535
2. 2Bäckberg M et al., Forensic Science International, 2023: in vitro activity at human CB1 (AequoScreen, CHO-K1 cells); 3,5-AB-CHMFUPPYCA (AB-CHFUPYCA) is inactive (new tab)PMID 37116244
3. 3Uchiyama N, Asakawa K, Kikura-Hanajiri R, Tsutsumi T, Hakamatsuka T. A new pyrazole-carboxamide type synthetic cannabinoid AB-CHFUPYCA identified in illegal products. Forensic Toxicol, 2015 (new tab)DOI 10.1007/s11419-015-0283-8
4. 4McLaughlin G, Morris N, Kavanagh PV, Power JD, Twamley B, O'Brien J, Talbot B, Dowling G, Brandt SD. The synthesis and characterization of the 'research chemical' 3,5-AB-CHMFUPPYCA and differentiation from its 5,3-regioisomer. Drug Test Anal, 2016 (new tab)PMID 26360802
5. 5Franz F, Angerer V, Brandt SD, McLaughlin G, Kavanagh PV, Moosmann B, Auwärter V. In vitro metabolism of the synthetic cannabinoid 3,5-AB-CHMFUPPYCA and its 5,3-regioisomer and investigation of their thermal stability. Drug Test Anal, 2017 (new tab)PMID 26888282
6. 6Order of 31 March 2017 amending the order of 22 February 1990 setting the list of substances classified as narcotics (Annex IV, AB-CHFUPYCA named), JORF of 6 April 2017 (new tab)
7. 7Wagmann L, Stiller RG, Fischmann S, Westphal F, Meyer MR. Going deeper into the toxicokinetics of synthetic cannabinoids: in vitro contribution of human carboxylesterases. Arch Toxicol, 2022 (concerns the analogue 3,5-AB-5F-FUPPYCA, not AB-CHFUPYCA) (new tab)PMID 35788413

SMILES

O=C(NC(C(N)=O)C(C)C)C1=CC(C2=CC=C(F)C=C2)=NN1CC3CCCCC3

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

LLM ingestion format: a structured superset of the entry (identifiers, binding, versioned legal status). Full corpus.