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Synthetic

Δ7-THCΔ7-tetrahydrocannabinol

Positional isomer of THC, active at CB1 depending on the epimer; no human data.

FranceNarcotic: generic clauseInternationalNarcotic: named in schedule
Level of detail

Harm-reduction warning

No characterised human dose: animal / in vitro data only. Effect profile, safety margin and acute toxicity are not documented in human clinical practice. Extremely potent compound: severe effects, seizures and deaths reported in the literature.

C₂₁H₃₀O₂

CAS 162678-94-6

Family
Synthetic CB receptor agonistResearch ligand or medicine
Molar mass
314.46 g/mol

Updated on

In plain terms

Δ7-THC is a chemical cousin of THC: same molecular formula, with the double bond placed elsewhere on the skeleton. Hemp does not make it; it is mainly a laboratory molecule. Depending on the orientation of a single methyl group, it proved almost as active as THC in animals or only weakly active, and it has never been studied in humans.

Receptors and activity

Target network

CB1Agonist9S epimer (near-equatorial methyl) barely less active than Δ9-THC in vitro and in the mouse tetrad; 9R epimer weakly active (Huffman et al. 1995, taken up by the WHO in 2018). Stereoselective differences confirmed in β-arrestin 2 recruitment (Janssens et al. 2024). No verified Ki value.
  • Activates

The lower the cited value, the closer the target sits to Δ7-THC: one ring per factor of 100. A target with no measured value stays on the edge.

Where these targets live

Where each target has been found in humans, according to the cited studies. The map shows the target, not an effect of Δ7-THC.

Brain, side view
Body, front view
Blood

CB1CB1 found in 7 regions of the body

  1. Basal gangliadenseMost dense in basal ganglia outflow nuclei1
  2. CerebellumdenseVery dense in the cerebellum1
  3. HippocampusdenseVery high concentrations in the hippocampus2
  4. AmygdaladenseHigh concentrations in the amygdala2
  5. CortexpresentPresent throughout the neocortex2
  6. Adipose tissuepresentExpressed in adipose tissue3
  7. GutpresentColonic epithelium, smooth muscle and plexus4

Map sources

  1. Herkenham M et al. Cannabinoid receptor localization in brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 1990 (new tab)
  2. Glass M et al. Cannabinoid receptors in the human brain: a detailed anatomical and quantitative autoradiographic study in the fetal, neonatal and adult human brain. Neuroscience, 1997 (new tab)
  3. Engeli S et al. Activation of the peripheral endocannabinoid system in human obesity. Diabetes, 2005 (new tab)
  4. Wright K et al. Differential expression of cannabinoid receptors in the human colon: cannabinoids promote epithelial wound healing. Gastroenterology, 2005 (new tab)

Cited values

  1. CB1Agonistno measured value cited

    9S epimer (near-equatorial methyl) barely less active than Δ9-THC in vitro and in the mouse tetrad; 9R epimer weakly active (Huffman et al. 1995, taken up by the WHO in 2018). Stereoselective differences confirmed in β-arrestin 2 recruitment (Janssens et al. 2024). No verified Ki value.

Bar length follows the measured value (Ki, Kd, EC50 or IC50), on one scale shared by every entry, from 100 µM to 0.1 nM. A target with no cited value has no bar.

Pharmacology

Δ7-THC shares the dibenzopyran skeleton of Δ9-THC, with the double bond moved between carbons 7 and 8 and an extra stereocentre at C9, hence two epimers. Long held to be inactive (Binder et al. 1979, Reggio et al. 1989), it was re-evaluated in 1995 by Huffman et al.: the 9S epimer, with a quasi-equatorial methyl, proved only slightly less active than Δ9-THC in vitro and in the mouse tetrad, the 9R epimer weakly active. Janssens et al. (2024) found activity differences between its stereoisomers at CB1 in a β-arrestin 2 recruitment assay. Nothing is published on CB2 or other targets, no drug-discrimination study or detailed toxicological assessment exists, and the WHO (2018) notes that only Δ8-THC and Δ6a,10a-THC, among the THC isomers listed in Schedule I of the 1971 Convention, have been tested in pure form in humans.

Key sources.

History

Source
Δ7-THC has never been identified in hemp and no plant biosynthetic route is known. It is first of all a laboratory compound: described in 1973 under the name Δ5-THC, it was prepared as its two C9 epimers in 1995 for structure-activity studies. A 2024 review (Caprari et al.) cites it, after Kiselak et al. (2020), among the possible contaminants of Δ8-THC products obtained by acid cyclisation of cannabidiol; the same review leaves it out of its inventory of synthetic THCs, as no recreational use has been documented.

Origin

Laboratory synthesis

No known biosynthetic route: the molecule belongs to synthetic chemistry. It was obtained by rearrangement of other THC-type cannabinoids (Mechoulam et al. 1973), then by a stereoselective synthesis giving the two C9 epimers separately (Huffman et al. 1995).

Classification

Family, origin and source verification

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › Research ligand or medicine

Chemistry

C5 side chain · neutral form

Class

classical

Verification

Every fact on this entry was checked against its primary sources on 20 October 2026.

Wikipedia (English)

Δ7-Tetrahydrocannabinol (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.

References

  1. WHO, Expert Committee on Drug Dependence. Isomers of THC: Critical Review Report, 41st meeting, 2018 (new tab)
  2. Huffman JW, Banner WK, Zoorob GK, Joyner HH, Reggio PH, Martin BR, Compton DR. Stereoselective synthesis of the epimeric Δ7-tetrahydrocannabinols. Tetrahedron 1995;51:1017-1032 (new tab)
  3. Mechoulam R, Ben-Zvi Z, Varconi H, Samuelov Y. Cannabinoid rearrangements: synthesis of Δ5-tetrahydrocannabinol. Tetrahedron 1973;29:1615-1619 (new tab)
  4. Reggio PH, Greer KV, Cox SM. The importance of the orientation of the C9 substituent to cannabinoid activity. J Med Chem 1989;32:1630-1635 (new tab)PMID 2738895
  5. Janssens LK, Van Uytfanghe K, Williams JB, Hering KW, Iula DM, Stove CP. Investigation of the intrinsic cannabinoid activity of hemp-derived and semisynthetic cannabinoids with β-arrestin2 recruitment assays. Arch Toxicol 2024 (new tab)PMID 38735004
  6. Shuda SA, Folger JF, Spargo E, Logan BK. Development and validation of a quantitative method for the analysis of delta-9-THC, delta-8-THC, THCA and CBD. J Forensic Sci 2024 (new tab)PMID 38939982
  7. Caprari C, Ferri E, Vandelli MA, Citti C, Cannazza G. An emerging trend in Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPSs): designer THC. J Cannabis Res 2024;6:21 (new tab)PMID 38702834
  8. Kiselak TD, Koerber R, Verbeck GF. Synthetic route sourcing of illicit at home cannabidiol (CBD) isomerization to psychoactive cannabinoids using ion mobility-coupled-LC-MS/MS. Forensic Sci Int 2020;308:110173 (new tab)PMID 32028121
  9. ANSM, decision of 6 February 2026 amending the list of substances classified as narcotics and the list of psychotropic substances (new tab)
  10. ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026 (new tab)
  11. PubChem, compound CID 10313569: (6aR,9S,10aR)-Δ7-tetrahydrocannabinol (new tab)

Identifiers

Names

Common name
Δ7-tetrahydrocannabinol
IUPAC name
(6aR,9S,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6a,9,10,10a-tetrahydrobenzo[c]chromen-1-ol
Other names
delta-7-THC · delta-7-tetrahydrocannabinol · Δ5-THC · (6aR,9S,10aR)-Δ7-THC

Identifiers

Formula
C₂₁H₃₀O₂
CAS
162678-94-6
PubChem CID
10313569(new tab)
InChIKey
WWYMYGIVLCKTBL-DJIMGWMZSA-N
SMILES
CCCCCC1=CC2=C([C@@H]3C[C@@H](C=C[C@H]3C(O2)(C)C)C)C(=C1)O

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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