AM-087.

AM-087 belongs to the classical cannabinoids, the structural family of THC: the dibenzopyran skeleton of Δ8-THC is retained, with the side chain bearing two methyl groups at C1' and a bromine on its terminal carbon. Halogenation of the terminal carbon of the chain is known to increase the affinity of Δ8-THC analogues for CB1, the bulky halogens (bromine, iodine) producing the largest effects (Nikas et al., 2004; Charalambous et al., 1991). For AM-087, ChEMBL reports a CB1 affinity of 0.43 nM, while a functional [35S]GTPγS assay on rat cerebellum places the EC50 around 10 nM. The pharmacological point that matters here is efficacy: THC is a partial agonist of CB1, whereas many synthetic cannabinoid agonists characterised to date are full agonists (Zagzoog et al., 2021), and their efficacy and potency, well above those of THC, can produce toxic levels of signalling (Yano et al., 2023). For AM-087 itself, CB2 affinity, selectivity, pharmacokinetics and toxicology are absent from the literature consulted: human data are entirely lacking, and results obtained on neighbouring halogenated analogues, which differ by a single substituent, cannot be attributed to it.

Source

An entirely synthetic molecule, absent from cannabis as from any other organism. It comes from the medicinal chemistry programmes that explored the side chain of the classical cannabinoids in order to map the CB1 receptor, and its code belongs to the « AM » series, associated with the laboratory of Alexandros Makriyannis. AM-087 is a reference compound for research, not an ingredient: the sources consulted report no consumer product containing it.

No biosynthetic pathway: the molecule does not exist in the plant. It belongs solely to synthetic chemistry and has no natural precursor.

European Union

The substance is not listed in the Annex to Council Framework Decision 2004/757/JHA (consolidated version of 12 January 2026), which lists the new psychoactive substances controlled at European Union level; control is a matter for national law. It appears neither in the lists of the EUDA nor in those of UNODC recording the synthetic cannabinoids reported (Zangani et al., 2020). It does not appear in the schedules of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances (green list of the INCB, 35th and 36th editions).

France

AM-087 is named in no entry of the consolidated ANSM list (updated 16 February 2026): no nominative listing concerns it. Its classification can result only from a generic clause. Judging by its structure, it meets the definition of the generic family of annex IV introduced by the ANSM decisions of 22 May 2024 and 3 June 2024, which classifies as a narcotic any substance derived from the benzo[c]chromene nucleus, hydrogenated or not on ring A, substituted in particular at position 1 by a hydroxyl, at position 3 by an alkyl or haloalkyl chain, at position 6 by one or two alkyl groups and at position 9 by an alkyl group: 6,6,9-trimethyl-3-(6-bromo-2-methylhexan-2-yl)-6a,7,10,10a-tetrahydrobenzo[c]chromen-1-ol corresponds to these criteria and falls under none of the exclusions provided for (CBN, CBNA, THCV, THCVA, THCA). This is a reading of the text applied to the structure, not a nominative listing; the entry « Tétrahydrocannabinols, leurs esters, éthers, sels », placed in annex III since the decision of 6 February 2026, covers tetrahydrocannabinols proper.

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

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › Research ligand or medicine

Class

classical

Verification

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

Wikipedia (English)

AM-087 (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. 1Nikas SP et al., The role of halogen substitution in classical cannabinoids: a CB1 pharmacophore model, AAPS J 2004;6(4):e30 (halogenated Δ8-THC analogues: effect of halogenation at the end of the side chain on CB1 affinity) (new tab)PMID 15760095
2. 2Charalambous A et al., Pharmacological evaluation of halogenated delta 8-THC analogs, Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1991;40(3):509 (pentyl-chain analogues, not AM-087) (new tab)PMID 1666915
3. 3Durdagi S et al., 3D-QSAR studies for novel cannabinoid ligands substituted at the C1' position, J Med Chem 2007;50(12):2875 (dataset containing the CB1 affinity of 0.43 nM, read in ChEMBL) (new tab)PMID 17521177
4. 4Salo OMH et al., 3D-QSAR studies on cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonists: G-protein activation as biological data, J Med Chem 2006;49(2):554 (EC50 and maximal response in [35S]GTPγS, read in ChEMBL) (new tab)PMID 16420041
5. 5Charalambous A et al., PET studies in the primate brain and biodistribution in mice using (-)-5'-18F-delta 8-THC, Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1991;40(3):503 (analogue distinct from AM-087) (new tab)PMID 1666914
6. 6Zagzoog A et al., Assessment of select synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist bias and selectivity between CB1 and CB2, Sci Rep 2021;11:10611 (THC a partial agonist, many synthetic agonists full) (new tab)PMID 34012003
7. 7Yano H et al., Subtle structural modification of a synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist drastically increases its efficacy at the CB1 receptor, ACS Chem Neurosci 2023;14(21):3928 (new tab)PMID 37847546
8. 8ChEMBL, record CHEMBL199561: CB1 activities associated with this structure (InChIKey RJPGJHLVEUSRRA) (new tab)
9. 9ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026 (Annex IV, benzo[c]chromene derivatives family; Annex III, tetrahydrocannabinols) (new tab)
10. 10PubChem CID 10717065 (AM-087): identifiers, formula and synonyms (new tab)

SMILES

CC1=CC[C@@H]2[C@@H](C1)C3=C(C=C(C=C3O)C(C)(C)CCCCBr)OC2(C)C

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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