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Derived from the plant

HHC-OHexahydrocannabinol acetate

The acetate ester of HHC, probably a prodrug of HHC. Classified as a narcotic in France since 13 June 2023.

FranceNarcotic: named in scheduleInternationalNarcotic: generic clause
Level of detail

C₂₃H₃₄O₃

CID 165412103

Family
Semi-synthetic cannabinoidEster or prodrug
Molar mass
358.50 g/mol

Updated on

In plain terms

HHC-O is an acetylated version of HHC, made in the laboratory. On its own it barely activates the CB1 receptor; human liver cells rapidly turn it into HHC. It has been classified as a narcotic in France since June 2023.

Receptors and activity

Target network

CB1Partial agonistno measured value
  • Activates

The lower the cited value, the closer the target sits to HHC-O: 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 HHC-O.

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. CB1Partial agonistno measured value cited
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

HHC-O (hexahydrocannabinol acetate) is the acetate ester of HHC; cannabinoids acylated at the phenol do not occur naturally (EMCDDA 2023). An HHC acetate was described as early as 1942 (Wollner et al.), but the product only appeared on the market around late 2021; its first identification in Europe dates from 14 August 2022 in Hungary, in 0.88 g of plant material containing a roughly 2:1 mixture of the two epimers. By 31 March 2023, three Member States (Croatia, Estonia, Hungary) had reported it to the EMCDDA. In CHO-K1 cells expressing human CB1, (9R)-HHC-O showed only minimal activation (EC50 > 33 000 nM) and (9S)-HHC-O none, against 101 nM for (9R)-HHC in the same assay (Persson et al., 2025). Human hepatocytes rapidly convert it to HHC (Lindbom et al., 2025), and human liver microsomes hydrolyse it through the carboxylesterases CES1 and CES2 (Zhao et al., 2025); the authors conclude that it probably acts as a prodrug and that its use may not be distinguishable from HHC use in urine. No controlled human study has been published. In Sweden, after HHC and HHC-P were classified on 11 July 2023, HHC-O was among the unregulated variants that replaced them (Helander et al., 2024). HHC-O is classified by name as a narcotic in France by the ANSM decision of 12 June 2023 (ban effective on 13 June 2023), and listed in Italy (decree of 13 July 2023), the Czech Republic (6 March 2024), Germany through the NpSG generic group (27 June 2024) and Spain (23 April 2025).

Key sources.

History

Source
Semi-synthetic (acetate ester of HHC; does not occur naturally)

Route of preparation

Chemical process

No biosynthesis: cannabinoids acylated at the phenol do not occur naturally (EMCDDA 2023). HHC-O is the acetate ester of HHC, which is itself made from CBD. In vitro, it is rapidly converted to HHC by human hepatocytes (Lindbom et al., 2025) and hydrolysed by the carboxylesterases CES1 and CES2 of human liver microsomes (Zhao et al., 2025).

Classification

Family, origin and source verification

Family

Semi-synthetic cannabinoid › Ester or prodrug

Chemistry

C5 side chain · neutral form

Verification

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

Wikipedia (English)

HHC-acetate (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. EMCDDA (Ujváry et al.), Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and related substances, technical report, 2023 (new tab)
  2. Persson M et al. In vitro activation of the CB1 receptor by HHC, HHC-O and HHC-P. Drug Test Anal 2025;17:487-493 (new tab)PMID 38894658
  3. Lindbom K et al. Human metabolism of HHC, HHCP and their acetates using hepatocytes and urine samples. Drug Test Anal 2025;17:372-386 (new tab)PMID 38804224
  4. Zhao S et al. Enzymatic hydrolysis of Δ8-THC-O, Δ9-THC-O, 11-α-HHC-O and 11-β-HHC-O by pooled human liver microsomes. Forensic Toxicol 2025;43:256-265 (new tab)PMID 40153119
  5. Helander A et al. Appearance of hexahydrocannabinols as recreational drugs and implications for cannabis drug testing. Scand J Clin Lab Invest 2024;84:125-132 (new tab)PMID 38619215
  6. ANSM, decision of 12/06/2023 amending the list of substances classified as narcotics (new tab)

Identifiers

Names

Common name
Hexahydrocannabinol acetate
IUPAC name
[(6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6a,7,8,9,10,10a-hexahydrobenzo[c]chromen-1-yl] acetate
Other names
HHCO · HHCOA

Identifiers

Formula
C₂₃H₃₄O₃
PubChem CID
165412103(new tab)
InChIKey
ZAZIHGFBNRVMAI-JCNKGUCWSA-N
SMILES
CCCCCC1=CC2=C([C@@H]3CC(CC[C@H]3C(O2)(C)C)C)C(=C1)OC(=O)C

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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