Skip to content

Batch information on every product pageTHC < 0.3%Shipped from France10% off when you sign up

Synthetic

ADB-PINACA

A synthetic cannabinoid agonist at CB1 and CB2, behind a cluster of intoxications in the United States; a narcotic in France.

Narcotic: named in schedule
Level of detail

Harm-reduction warning

No characterised human dose: animal / in vitro data only. Effect profile, safety margin and acute toxicity are not documented in human clinical practice. Extremely potent compound: severe effects, seizures and deaths reported in the literature.

C₁₉H₂₈N₄O₂

CAS 1633766-73-0

Family
Synthetic CB receptor agonistNew psychoactive substance
Molar mass
344.46 g/mol

Updated on

In plain terms

ADB-PINACA is a molecule made in the laboratory, with no link to the cannabis plant. It was found in a plant product sold under the name « Crazy Clown », linked to a cluster of eight intoxications in the United States, with anxiety, delirium, psychosis and aggressive behaviour. It is classed as a narcotic in France.

Receptors and activity

Target network

CB1Agonistno measured value
  • Activates

The lower the cited value, the closer the target sits to ADB-PINACA: one ring per factor of 100. A target with no measured value stays on the edge.

Where these targets live

Where each target has been found in humans, according to the cited studies. The map shows the target, not an effect of ADB-PINACA.

Brain, side view
Body, front view
Blood

CB1CB1 found in 7 regions of the body

  1. Basal gangliadenseMost dense in basal ganglia outflow nuclei1
  2. CerebellumdenseVery dense in the cerebellum1
  3. HippocampusdenseVery high concentrations in the hippocampus2
  4. AmygdaladenseHigh concentrations in the amygdala2
  5. CortexpresentPresent throughout the neocortex2
  6. Adipose tissuepresentExpressed in adipose tissue3
  7. GutpresentColonic epithelium, smooth muscle and plexus4

Map sources

  1. Herkenham M et al. Cannabinoid receptor localization in brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 1990 (new tab)
  2. Glass M et al. Cannabinoid receptors in the human brain: a detailed anatomical and quantitative autoradiographic study in the fetal, neonatal and adult human brain. Neuroscience, 1997 (new tab)
  3. Engeli S et al. Activation of the peripheral endocannabinoid system in human obesity. Diabetes, 2005 (new tab)
  4. Wright K et al. Differential expression of cannabinoid receptors in the human colon: cannabinoids promote epithelial wound healing. Gastroenterology, 2005 (new tab)

Cited values

  1. CB1Agonistno measured value cited
  2. CB2Agonistno measured value cited
Bar length follows the measured value (Ki, Kd, EC50 or IC50), on one scale shared by every entry, from 100 µM to 0.1 nM. A target with no cited value has no bar.

Pharmacology

ADB-PINACA is a synthetic cannabinoid of the indazole-3-carboxamide family, with a pentyl chain and an amide motif derived from tert-leucine. Banister et al. (2015) synthesised and tested it with other compounds: all act as high-potency agonists at CB1 (EC50 of 0.24 to 21 nM) and CB2 (EC50 of 0.88 to 15 nM) receptors. Schwartz et al. (2015) describe a cluster of eight patients exposed to the same product (« Crazy Clown »), in which ADB-PINACA, previously unknown, was identified in seven of them: seven had anxiety, delirium, psychosis and aggressive behaviour, and an eighth had delayed seizures; these cases helped the DEA schedule the substance temporarily. Armenian et al. (2018) report six patients exposed in an isolated setting, including two confirmed cases for AB-PINACA and ADB-PINACA, with impaired consciousness, agitation and seizures. Hepatic metabolism produces 19 major metabolites, and those without a carboxylic acid group retain activity at both cannabinoid receptors. No clinical pharmacology study was found in the sources consulted.

Key sources.

History

Source
A wholly artificial molecule, absent from cannabis and from any known living organism. It was identified as a previously unknown substance in a plant product sold under the name « Crazy Clown » in the United States (Schwartz et al. 2015).

Origin

Laboratory synthesis

None. The molecule has no biosynthetic pathway: it comes neither from cannabis nor from any other organism, and the human body does not make it. It is a synthetic molecule of the indazole-3-carboxamide class, described here by its chemical class only.

Classification

Family, origin and source verification

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › New psychoactive substance

Class

indazole-3-carboxamide

Verification

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

Wikipedia (English)

ADB-PINACA (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.

References

  1. Banister et al. · ACS Chem Neurosci 2015 (new tab)PMID 26134475
  2. Schwartz et al. · J Emerg Med 2015 (new tab)PMID 25726258
  3. Armenian et al. · Neuropharmacology 2018 (new tab)PMID 29037744
  4. Carlier et al. · Clin Chem 2017 (new tab)PMID 28302730
  5. Longworth et al. · ACS Chem Neurosci 2017 (new tab)PMID 28574245

Identifiers

Names

IUPAC name
N-(1-amino-3,3-dimethyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl)-1-pentylindazole-3-carboxamide

Identifiers

Formula
C₁₉H₂₈N₄O₂
CAS
1633766-73-0
PubChem CID
86280478(new tab)
InChIKey
FWTARAXQGJRQKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N
SMILES
CCCCCN1C2=CC=CC=C2C(=N1)C(=O)NC(C(=O)N)C(C)(C)C

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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