AM-1218

AM-1218 is a synthetic aminoalkylindole of the naphthoylindole subfamily, which differs from AM-1220 by a nitro group at position 6 of the indole ring. The University of Connecticut patent that describes it measures an inhibition constant Ki of 11.2 nM at CB1 and 3.98 nM at CB2 (racemic sample, displacement of [3H]CP-55,940), strong binding at both receptors with a slight advantage for CB2. These values say nothing about efficacy: no functional test, whether GTPγS binding or another activation measure, is found for this compound in the sources consulted, so it is not known whether it activates or blocks the receptors. No pharmacokinetic, toxicological or clinical study is found in the sources consulted.

Source

Laboratory-made synthetic molecule, with no natural occurrence on record. It comes from an academic research programme on cannabimimetic indoles and, in the sources consulted, is described only in a patent.

No biosynthetic pathway: the molecule is obtained by chemical synthesis, within the aminoalkylindole class (naphthoylindoles). Described here by chemical class only.

European Union

No harmonised control measure at European Union level is documented for this molecule in the sources consulted, so control rests on national legislation. It is also absent from the 2026 green list of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), and therefore outside the schedules of the 1971 Convention.

France

A narcotic in France by generic family clause, not by name. AM-1218 appears under none of its names in the consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated on 16 February 2026 by the ANSM. It falls under the 'indol-3-yl methanone' clause of annex IV of the decree of 22 February 1990, which covers any molecule of this family bearing on the indole nitrogen a substituent of the '1-(N-methylpiperidin-2-yl)methyl' type and, on the methanone bridge carbon, a naphthyl group, which may be substituted. Both conditions are met point by point. The text does not restrict the other positions of the indole ring: it names compounds substituted at position 2 (JWH-007, JWH-015). The reading adopted here is therefore that the nitro group at position 6 does not take the molecule out of the clause, even though that group is not named. The narcotics criminal regime therefore applies.

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

1. 1Makriyannis et Deng, brevet US 7241799 B2 (université du Connecticut, délivré le 10 juillet 2007) : affinités CB1 et CB2 de l'AM-1218 au tableau 1, échantillons racémiques, CI50 converties en Ki (new tab)
2. 2PubChem CID 11604318 (AM-1218) : formule C26H25N3O3, masse moléculaire, clé InChI et nom IUPAC reconfirmés (new tab)
3. 3PubChem CID 57458893 (AM-1221, analogue 2-méthylé) : porte le numéro CAS 335160-53-7, qui n'est donc pas retenu pour l'AM-1218 (new tab)
4. 4ANSM, liste consolidée des substances classées comme stupéfiants, mise à jour du 16 février 2026 : clause « indol-3-yl methanone » de l'annexe IV (new tab)
5. 5OICS, liste verte 2026 des substances psychotropes sous contrôle international : l'AM-1218 n'y figure pas (new tab)

SMILES

CN1CCCCC1CN2C=C(C3=C2C=C(C=C3)[N+](=O)[O-])C(=O)C4=CC=CC5=CC=CC=C54

InChIKey

GSXIFTVLUKMIBO-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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