Synthetic cannabinoid (SCRA)
Narcotic: named in scheduleHU-243HU-243 (7-hydroxy-hexahydrocannabinol-DMH)
(6aR,9R,10aR)-9-(hydroxymethyl)-6,6-dimethyl-3-(2-methyloctan-2-yl)-6a,7,8,9,10,10a-hexahydrobenzo[c]chromen-1-ol
Aliases.HU-243 · [3H]HU-243 · 7-hydroxy-hexahydrocannabinol-DMH · 11-hydroxy-hexahydrocannabinol-diméthylheptyle
A cannabinoid radioligand of extreme affinity (KD 45 pM), listed by name as a narcotic in France.
Updated on
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.
Identifiers
- Formula
- C₂₅H₄₀O₃
- Molar mass
- 388.60 g·mol⁻¹
- CAS
- 140835-14-9
- PubChem CID
- 5311171
- Origin
- A wholly synthetic compound, absent from cannabis and from any living organism. It is produced in laboratory quantities, as a research reagent and as a radioligand, and has never been observed on the consumer product market.
- InChIKey
- MVEVPDCVOXJVBD-MISYRCLQSA-N
In plain terms
HU-243 is a laboratory cannabinoid of extreme potency, created not to be consumed but to serve as a probe: its radioactive version made it possible to measure the cannabis receptor precisely in tissues. It is classified as a narcotic in France.
Receptors and activity
- CB1KD de 45 pM au récepteur cannabinoïde, contre 180 pM pour le HU-210 et 2,0 nM pour le CP-55,940 (Devane et coll. 1992)Agonist
- Agonist
- Partial agonist
- Antagonist
- Modulator
- Inverse agonist
Hover over a row for the precise value (Ki, EC50…)
Subjective signature
Hover over an axis to read its definition.
- Calm25
- Clarity10
- Sleep60
- Appetite60
- High95
Editorial estimate, not clinical.
Pharmacology
HU-243 is a synthetic agonist of cannabinoid receptors of extreme affinity, designed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as a measurement tool rather than as an active substance. Devane and colleagues (1992) obtained it by hydrogenation of HU-210, whose 1,1-dimethylheptyl chain and hydroxymethyl function it retains, and isolated the equatorial epimer. Its dissociation constant at the cannabinoid receptor is 45 pM, against 180 pM for HU-210 and 2.0 nM for CP-55,940 then used everywhere: it is that affinity which made tritiated HU-243 a probe of choice for mapping the receptor in tissues, at the moment when the biology of the endocannabinoid system was being built. In pigeons it substitutes for Δ9-THC in the discrimination test with an ED50 of 0.002 mg/kg. Its potency earned this laboratory reagent a listing by name on the French narcotics list by the arrêté of 31 March 2017. No human data exist.
Origin (pharmaceutical research → illicit market)
No biological route. HU-243 is obtained by hydrogenation of HU-210: saturation of the cyclohexene ring turns the tetrahydrocannabinol skeleton into a hexahydrocannabinol skeleton, while the 1,1-dimethylheptyl side chain and the hydroxymethyl function at position 9 are preserved. It is described here by chemical class only.
Legal framework
France
A narcotic listed by name in France. The arrêté of 31 March 2017, amending Annex IV of the arrêté of 22 February 1990, explicitly cites HU-243 among the substances added to the list of narcotics, alongside HU-210, XLR-11 and WIN 55,212-2. Production, possession, transfer and use are criminally punishable, including for a compound whose real circulation is confined to laboratories.
European Union
No harmonised control measure at Union level and no listing under the international conventions of 1961 and 1971. Several Member States, including France, have classified it nationally in lists targeting very high potency synthetic cannabinoids.
Sources: EUR-Lex, UNODC, CND, ANSM, IUPHAR/BPS, ChEBI, EUDA. Our method.
Structural classification
- Class
- Synthetic cannabinoid (SCRA)
- Origin
- A wholly synthetic compound, absent from cannabis and from any living organism. It is produced in laboratory quantities, as a research reagent and as a radioligand, and has never been observed on the consumer product market.
- Status
- Narcotic: named in schedule
References
Structured data
- InChIKey
- MVEVPDCVOXJVBD-MISYRCLQSA-N
- SMILES
- CCCCCCC(C)(C)C1=CC(=C2[C@@H]3C[C@@H](CC[C@H]3C(OC2=C1)(C)C)CO)O
- Formula
- C25H40O3
- Molar mass
- 388.60 g·mol⁻¹
- CAS
- 140835-14-9
- PubChem CID
- 5311171
LLM ingestion format: a structured superset of the entry (identifiers, binding, versioned legal status). Full corpus.