AM-1235.

AM-1235 belongs to the naphthoylindoles, the family of cannabinoid receptor agonists opened up by WIN 55,212-2 and the JWH compounds. Its structure combines an indole nucleus nitrated at position 6, a 5-fluoropentyl chain on the indole nitrogen and a naphthalene-1-carbonyl group at position 3. The original patent reports an affinity of 1.5 nM for the CB1 receptor and 20.4 nM for the CB2 receptor, a selectivity of about thirteen-fold in favour of CB1. An affinity, however, says nothing about functional efficacy, and no published measurement of intrinsic activity relates specifically to AM-1235 in the sources consulted. Zagzoog et al. (2021) recall that THC is a partial agonist of CB1 and CB2, whereas many synthetic cannabinoid agonists characterised to date are full agonists of CB1; an efficacy far above that of THC can lead to toxic levels of signalling (Yano et al., 2023). For AM-1235 itself, human data are entirely lacking, and the only studies consulted that actually analysed the molecule are analytical works.

Source

An entirely synthetic molecule, with no natural occurrence. AM-1235 is found neither in hemp nor in any other organism: it comes from an academic medicinal chemistry programme devoted to cannabinoid receptor ligands.

No biosynthetic route: the molecule is produced by no living organism and belongs to synthetic chemistry, in the acylated indole class.

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 ties it to a generic definition by chemical family in annex IV of its list (see the French status).

France

AM-1235 is named in no entry of the consolidated ANSM list (updated 16 February 2026): no nominative listing concerns it, and the clause covering tetrahydrocannabinols, their esters, ethers and salts (annex III since the decision of 6 February 2026) does not apply to this naphthoylindole, which is not a THC derivative. The classification of synthetic cannabinoids rests, in annex IV, on generic families, including the « indol-3-yl methanone » family, introduced by the decree of 31 March 2017 (JORF of 6 April 2017): an indole bearing on the nitrogen a substituent of the alkyl, haloalkyl, halobenzyl, cycloalkylmethyl or related type, and a naphthyl, benzyl, phenyl, cyclopropyl or adamantyl group on the carbon of the methanone bridge. AM-1235 (5-fluoropentyl chain on the nitrogen, naphthyl on the bridge) meets these criteria, with an additional nitro at position 6 of the indole that the text of the family does not mention. This is a reading of the text applied to the structure, not a nominative listing; it remains to be confirmed.

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

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › Research ligand or medicine

Class

naphthoylindole

Verification

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

Wikipedia (English)

AM-1235 (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. 1Makriyannis A, Deng H. Cannabimimetic indole derivatives. US patent 7241799 B2, University of Connecticut (priority 18 October 1999, granted 10 July 2007). Source of the CB1 1.5 nM and CB2 20.4 nM affinities (table 2). (new tab)
2. 2Giorgetti A, Barone R, Pelletti G, Garagnani M, et al. Development and validation of a rapid LC-MS/MS method for the detection of 182 novel psychoactive substances in whole blood. Drug Test Anal, 2022 (AM-1235: retention time 12.7 min, LOQ 1.25 ng/mL). (new tab)PMID 34599648
3. 3Evans-Newman KC et al., Classification of Mass Spectral Data to Assist in the Identification of Novel Synthetic Cannabinoids. Molecules, 2024: AM-1235 is a false negative of the model, explained by its nitro group on the indole ring. (new tab)PMID 39407576
4. 4Giorgetti A, Busardò FP, Tittarelli R, Auwärter V, Giorgetti R. Post-Mortem Toxicology: A Systematic Review of Death Cases Involving Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2020. Class data (74 published cases); AM-1235 is not among them. (new tab)PMID 32523555
5. 5Zagzoog 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
6. 6Yano 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
7. 7Coronado-Álvarez A et al. The synthetic CB1 cannabinoid receptor selective agonists: Putative medical uses and their legalization. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry, 2021 (lists AM-1235 among the CB1-selective synthetic agonists) (new tab)PMID 33741446
8. 8ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026 (annex IV, « indol-3-yl methanone » family; AM-1235 not named) (new tab)
9. 9Order of 31 March 2017 amending the order of 22 February 1990: « indol-3-yl methanone » family of annex IV (Légifrance, JORF of 6 April 2017) (new tab)
10. 10INCB, Green List of psychotropic substances under international control, 36th edition, 2025: AM-1235 is not listed (new tab)

SMILES

C1=CC=C2C(=C1)C=CC=C2C(=O)C3=CN(C4=C3C=CC(=C4)[N+](=O)[O-])CCCCCF

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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