FUB-APINACA

Synthetic cannabinoid with high affinity for CB1 and CB2, classified as a narcotic in France.

FranceNarcotic: named in schedule InternationalUnscheduled

C₂₅H₂₆FN₃O

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.

Data sheet

Names

IUPAC name: N-(1-adamantyl)-1-[(4-fluorophenyl)methyl]indazole-3-carboxamide
Other names: AFUBINACA · FUB-AKB48 · FUB-AKB-48 · AKB48 N-(4-fluorobenzyl) · AFB-48

Identifiers

Formula: C₂₅H₂₆FN₃O
Molar mass: 403.50 g/mol
PubChem CID: 118796517(new tab)
ChEBI: CHEBI:192570(new tab)
InChIKey: MWBHSNBPUSKVDD-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Class

Family: Synthetic cannabinoid (SCRA)

Legal status

France: Narcotic: named in schedule
International: Unscheduled

See the legal framework

Updated on 13 October 2026

Receptors and activity

CB1Agonist92 out of 100
Ki 1,30 nM ; EC50 6,94 nM en GTPγS (Marusich et coll., 2022)
CB2Agonist94 out of 100
Ki 0,823 nM ; EC50 0,424 nM en GTPγS (Marusich et coll., 2022)

Bar length shows the relative strength of the interaction, as an indication.

Subjective signature

Calm: 8 out of 100; Relaxation of body and mind; reduced mental noise without marked drowsiness.
Clarity: 5 out of 100; Sustained attention and clear thinking; functional lucidity, not euphoria.
High: 20 out of 100; Euphoria and sensory intensity; altered perception of time and space.
Appetite: 12 out of 100; Stimulation of hunger and of taste appreciation (the “munchies” effect).
Sleep: 15 out of 100; Sedative effect: aids sleep onset and the continuity of deep sleep.

Editorial estimate, not clinical.

Pharmacology

FUB-APINACA, also called AFUBINACA or FUB-AKB48, is an indazole-3-carboxamide carrying an adamantyl group on the amide and a 4-fluorobenzyl group on nitrogen 1 of the indazole ring. A high-efficacy agonist of the CB1 and CB2 receptors, it shows a Ki of 1.30 nM at CB1 and 0.823 nM at CB2 (Marusich et al., 2022). In mice, it lowers body temperature and substitutes for Δ9-THC at a dose comparable to that of THC in males. The same work notes that it has been associated with deaths among users. No controlled exposure study in humans was found. In the United States, the DEA placed it in Schedule I by a final rule of 7 April 2022.

Key sources.

History

Source: Entirely synthetic molecule, with no natural occurrence recorded. In the United States, forensic surveillance has detected it in recent years, among several indole and indazole synthetic cannabinoids (Marusich et al., 2022). The date of its first description is not established in the sources consulted.

Origin (pharmaceutical research → illicit market)

No biosynthetic pathway: FUB-APINACA is an indazole carboxamide obtained by chemical synthesis in the laboratory, unrelated to the terpenophenols of the plant.

Legal framework

European Union: The sources consulted for this record describe no European Union control measure for this molecule, so its EU status is not documented here.
France: A narcotic in France, by name. FUB-APINACA appears in the consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics (ANSM, updated 16 February 2026), in Annex IV of that list, which compiles the substances classified by the decree of 22 February 1990, in the block on 3-carboxamide indazole derivatives, where it is cited by name (« FUB-APINACA ou FUB-AKB-48 »).

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

References

Structured data

SMILES: C1C2CC3CC1CC(C2)(C3)NC(=O)C4=NN(C5=CC=CC=C54)CC6=CC=C(C=C6)F
InChIKey: MWBHSNBPUSKVDD-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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