BIM-018.

BIM-018 is the benzimidazole analogue of JWH-018: the same pentyl chain and the same naphthoyl group, but the indole ring gives way to a benzimidazole and the ketone bridge sits at position 2. The molecule belongs to the synthetic agonists of the cannabinoid receptors, a class of which several members reach a high efficacy at the CB1 receptor, where Δ9-THC is only a partial agonist. For this particular molecule, efficacy has never been measured, no affinity constant and no functional assay has been found, and the agonist activity attributed to it remains a presumption drawn from its skeleton. The only measurements available concern its fluorinated congener FUBIMINA, with affinities of 502 nM at CB1 and of 99.0 nM at CB2 and only partial activation of both receptors (Schoeder et al., 2018); these are the analogue's data, not its own. What is established about BIM-018 itself is narrower: its metabolism, mapped in human liver microsomes and in the rat, where the parent molecule is 93.7% converted in vitro and leaves twenty-seven metabolites, and its detection by mass spectrometry, complicated by the fact that it shares its exact mass with THJ-018. Human data are entirely lacking: no clinical case, no pharmacokinetic profile, no toxicology study.

Source

An entirely synthetic molecule, absent from cannabis and from any living organism: it has no connection with hemp or with cannabidiol products. It was spotted on sales sites and consumer forums by a web-crawling robot, and it appears in the list of synthetic cannabinoids maintained by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Zangani et al., 2020). No seizure documenting its presentation has been found.

No biosynthetic pathway: the molecule is produced by no living organism and arises from organic synthesis, described here by chemical class only.

European Union

No control measure at European Union level covering BIM-018 has been found: the molecule did not appear in the EMCDDA list, now the EUDA, at the time of the survey published in 2020, and it appears in no schedule of the United Nations Convention of 1971 on psychotropic substances (INCB Green List, 36th edition, 2025). It is, however, recorded in the list of synthetic cannabinoids of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Zangani et al., 2020). Control therefore falls to national legislation, whose reach varies widely: Germany catches it through a generic clause, the annex to its law on new psychoactive substances (NpSG) explicitly retaining the benzimidazol-1,2-diyl ring among the core structures of cannabimimetics, with in particular a carbonyl bridge and a side chain of three to ten atoms. Outside the European Union, China placed the entire class of synthetic cannabinoids under control on 1 July 2021 (Ning et al., 2025).

France

BIM-018 is not classified as a narcotic in France. It is not named in annex IV of the decree of 22 February 1990 and it does not fall within any of the generic family definitions listed there: these cover in particular indol-3-yl methanones, indazol-3-yl methanones, naphthoylpyrroles, naphthylmethylindoles, naphthylideneindenes and naphthylmethylindenes, cyclohexylphenols, the carboxylates and carboxamides of indole and indazole, the carboxamides of pyrrolo[3,2-c]pyridine, the thiazolylindoles and, since the ANSM decision of 22 May 2024, derivatives of the benzo[c]chromene ring. Among synthetic cannabinoids, the benzimidazole ring appears in annex IV only through a listing by name, that of FUBIMINA (BIM-2201), the fluorinated congener of BIM-018. The generic clause covering the tetrahydrocannabinols, their esters, their ethers and their salts (in annex III of the consolidated list since the decision of 6 February 2026) does not apply either, the molecule not belonging to that chemical class. It is therefore an unscheduled substance, rather than one caught by a generic clause. This absence of listing describes a state of the law and not an absence of risk: the French list is regularly extended by ANSM decision, and the ANSM has already named the fluorinated congener.

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

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › New psychoactive substance

Class

naphthoyl-benzimidazole (JWH-018 analogue)

Verification

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

Wikipedia (English)

BIM-018 (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. 1Ning Y et al., Molecules, 2025: characterisation of the in vitro and in vivo metabolic pathways of 26 synthetic cannabinoids, including BIM-018 (27 metabolites, 93.7% microsomal conversion) (new tab)PMID 40649201
2. 2Yang Z et al., Se Pu, 2024: simultaneous assay of 102 synthetic cannabinoids, including BIM-018, in e-cigarette liquids by LC-MS/MS (new tab)PMID 39327658
3. 3Diao X et al., Forensic Toxicology, 2016: metabolism of FUBIMINA in human hepatocytes; BIM-018 is described there as the parent scaffold and as an isomer of THJ-018 (new tab)PMID 27547265
4. 4Schoeder CT et al., Forensic Toxicology, 2018: pharmacological evaluation of synthetic cannabinoids with indole, indazole, benzimidazole and carbazole cores; values measured on FUBIMINA, the fluorinated analogue (new tab)PMID 29963207
5. 5Zangani C et al., Current Neuropharmacology, 2020: survey of the synthetic cannabinoids cited online; BIM-018 is linked there to the UNODC list (new tab)PMID 32116194
6. 6ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026 (Annex IV: FUBIMINA named, generic families; Annex III: tetrahydrocannabinols clause) (new tab)
7. 7Annex to the German law on new psychoactive substances (NpSG), point 2.1 (cannabimimetics): benzimidazol-1,2-diyl core, carbonyl bridge, side chain of three to ten atoms (new tab)
8. 8INCB, Green List of psychotropic substances, 36th edition, 2025 (substances under the control of the 1971 Convention: BIM-018 absent) (new tab)
9. 9PubChem CID 124519300: BIM-018 (identifiers) (new tab)

SMILES

CCCCCn1c2ccccc2nc1C(=O)c3cccc4c3cccc4

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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