CBNM.Cannabinol methyl ether

Cannabinol methyl ether (CBNM) is the methyl ether, at position 1, of cannabinol: the same fully aromatised benzo[c]chromene nucleus and the same pentyl (C5) chain, but a methoxy in place of the free phenol. It has been reported only once, in 1973, in hashish (Bercht et al., Journal of Chromatography); no later isolation was found, and its origin, in the plant or during resin processing, is not established. No CB1 or CB2 affinity and no pharmacokinetic, metabolism or toxicology data have been published. In the CBN series, removing the phenol at position 1 lowers affinity for both receptors (Mahadevan 2000), but CBNM itself has not been tested. In France, its structure falls within the generic class of benzo[c]chromene derivatives created by the ANSM in 2024, which expressly covers an alkoxy function at position 1 and from which only CBN and CBNA are excluded by name.

Source

Cannabis sativa L.: reported only once, in hashish (Bercht et al. 1973); a tentative identification, with no isolation described in the sources consulted. Origin not established: cannabinol, of which it is the methyl ether, forms by oxidation of Δ9-THC (Maioli et al. 2022), but nothing shows whether the methylation occurs in the plant or during processing of the resin.

No formation pathway has been described. Cannabinol is not an enzymatic product: it results from the oxidation of Δ9-THC (Maioli et al. 2022). No methylating enzyme has been described, and the origin of the methoxy group, in the plant or from resin processing, is not established.

European Union

Not listed by name in the schedules of the 1961 and 1971 United Nations conventions, according to annexes I to III of the ANSM consolidated list (26/06/2026). Checked on 20/10/2026.

France

CBNM is not named in the ANSM consolidated list (updated 26/06/2026). Its structure nevertheless matches the definition of the generic class created by the ANSM decisions of 22/05/2024 and 03/06/2024: a benzo[c]chromene nucleus, which the text covers whether « non, partially or fully hydrogenated », substituted at position 1 by « a hydroxyl function, esterified or not, or an alkoxy function » (here a methoxy), with an alkyl chain at 3, two alkyl groups at 6 and an alkyl at 9. The text's exclusions name CBN and CBNA, THCV and THCVA up to 0.3%, and THCA subject to a content condition, but not CBNM. On this reading, CBNM has been a narcotic since June 2024; this interpretation must be confirmed by a lawyer. Checked on 20/10/2026.

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

Family

Phytocannabinoid › Minor

Presence in the plant

Tentative identification, never isolated

Chemistry

Type CBN · C5 side chain · neutral form

Verification

Checked on 20 October 2026; some points still await human review.

Wikipedia (English)

No dedicated article.

1. 1Bercht C.A.L., Lousberg R.J.J.C., Küppers F.J.E.M., Salemink C.A., Vree T.B., van Rossum J.M. 1973, J Chromatogr 81:163-166: identification of cannabinol methyl ether in hashish (new tab)PMID 4725414
2. 2Mahadevan A. et al. 2000, J Med Chem 43:3778-3785: structure-activity relationships of CBN derivatives at CB1 and CB2 receptors (new tab)PMID 11020293
3. 3Maioli C. et al. 2022, Plants: CBN, an oxidation product of Δ9-THC (new tab)PMID 36365350
4. 4PubChem CID 628150: cannabinol methyl ether (identifiers) (new tab)
5. 5ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 26/06/2026 (generic benzo[c]chromene class) (new tab)

SMILES

CCCCCC1=CC2=C(C(=C1)OC)C3=C(C=CC(=C3)C)C(O2)(C)C

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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