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Synthetic

JWH-015

A propyl-chain naphthoylindole, a CB2-preferring agonist and research tool, classed as a narcotic in France.

Narcotic: 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.

C₂₃H₂₁NO

CAS 155471-08-2

Family
Synthetic CB receptor agonistNew psychoactive substance
Molar mass
327.40 g/mol

Updated on

In plain terms

JWH-015 is a synthetic cannabinoid made in a laboratory. It does not exist in hemp and has nothing to do with cannabidiol. Its particularity is that it binds mainly to the CB2 receptor, located in the periphery, rather than to the CB1 receptor, found mostly in the brain, which made it a research tool. It is classed as a narcotic in France.

Receptors and activity

Target network

CB2AgonistKi = 13.8 nM · human[3H]CP55940 displacement, CHO cells expressing human CB2 (Showalter 1996, table reproduced by Howlett 2021); Ki 13.8 ± 4.6 nM in table 1 of Wiley 2012; efficacy at CB2 not specified in the open sources
  • Activates

The lower the cited value, the closer the target sits to JWH-015: 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 JWH-015.

Brain, side view
Body, front view
Blood

CB2CB2 found in 5 regions of the body

  1. SpleendenseHighly abundant in the spleen1
  2. Immune cellspresentMainly B cells and natural killer cells1
  3. SkinpresentKeratinocytes, mast cells and nerve fibres2
  4. GutpresentImmune cells of the colonic mucosa3
  5. BonepresentPresent on osteoclasts4

Map sources

  1. Galiègue S et al. Expression of central and peripheral cannabinoid receptors in human immune tissues and leukocyte subpopulations. Eur J Biochem, 1995 (new tab)
  2. Ständer S et al. Distribution of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) and 2 (CB2) on sensory nerve fibers and adnexal structures in human skin. J Dermatol Sci, 2005 (new tab)
  3. Wright K et al. Differential expression of cannabinoid receptors in the human colon: cannabinoids promote epithelial wound healing. Gastroenterology, 2005 (new tab)
  4. Rossi F et al. The endovanilloid/endocannabinoid system in human osteoclasts: possible involvement in bone formation and resorption. Bone, 2009 (new tab)

Cited values

  1. CB2AgonistKi = 13.8 nM · human64 out of 100

    Howlett et al. 2021, Molecules (from Showalter et al. 1996) (new tab) · [3H]CP55940 displacement, CHO cells expressing human CB2 (Showalter 1996, table reproduced by Howlett 2021); Ki 13.8 ± 4.6 nM in table 1 of Wiley 2012; efficacy at CB2 not specified in the open sources

  2. CB1AgonistEC50 = 216 nM · mouse44 out of 100

    Murataeva et al. 2012, Pharmacol Res (new tab) · inhibition of excitatory postsynaptic currents, mouse autaptic hippocampal neurons expressing CB1 without CB2; absent in CB1-/- mice, abolished by SR141716; Ki 164 ± 22 nM (Wiley 2012, table 1)

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

JWH-015 holds a place apart in John W. Huffman's series: where most JWH codes are known from seizures of smoking mixtures, this one is above all a laboratory reagent, used as a « CB2-preferring » agonist in more than 40 papers published by 2012 (Murataeva et al., 2012). This selectivity comes from its structure: a propyl chain on the indole nitrogen, instead of the pentyl of JWH-018. Table 1 of Wiley et al. (2012) gives 164 ± 22 nM at CB1 against 13.8 ± 4.6 nM at CB2, whereas JWH-018 measured in the same table stands at 9 ± 5 nM and 2.9 ± 2.6 nM; more than 25-fold selective for CB2 in Showalter et al. (1996). The selectivity is not an exclusivity, and this is the main misreading to avoid with this molecule: in murine autaptic hippocampal neurons, which express only CB1, JWH-015 inhibits excitatory postsynaptic currents with an EC50 of 216 nM (Murataeva et al., 2012). No data were found on TRPV1, GPR55, PPARγ or 5-HT1A, nor any controlled human study: neither dose, tolerance nor dependence is characterised. The molecule figures among the 22 synthetic cannabinoids sought by a validated method in hair (Hutter et al., 2012).

Key sources.

History

Source
A molecule with no known natural occurrence: it exists neither in hemp nor in any living organism. It circulates first as a research reagent, used as a « CB2-preferring » agonist in more than 40 papers published by 2012 (Murataeva et al., 2012). It also figures in the lists of the EUDA and of UNODC recording the synthetic cannabinoids reported (Zangani et al., 2020), and among the 22 synthetic cannabinoids sought by a validated method in hair, designed for Spice-type mixtures (Hutter et al., 2012). None of this concerns hemp or cannabidiol products.

Origin

Laboratory synthesis

No biological pathway: JWH-015 is entirely synthetic, with no plant precursor or enzymatic step. It belongs solely to synthetic chemistry, described here by chemical class only.

Classification

Family, origin and source verification

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › New psychoactive substance

Class

naphthoylindole

Verification

Classification, sources and binding values checked on 20 October 2026; text read against its sources and Wikipedia.

Wikipedia (English)

JWH-015 (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. Wiley JL, Smith VJ, Chen J, Martin BR, Huffman JW. Synthesis and pharmacology of 1-alkyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indoles: steric and electronic effects of 4- and 8-halogenated naphthoyl substituents. Bioorg Med Chem. 2012;20(6):2067-2081 (table 1: Ki for JWH-015 and JWH-018; ED50 in the mouse) (new tab)PMID 22341572
  2. Murataeva N, Mackie K, Straiker A. The CB2-preferring agonist JWH015 also potently and efficaciously activates CB1 in autaptic hippocampal neurons. Pharmacol Res. 2012;66(5):437-442 (new tab)PMID 22921769
  3. Showalter VM, Compton DR, Martin BR, Abood ME. Evaluation of binding in a transfected cell line expressing a peripheral cannabinoid receptor (CB2): identification of cannabinoid receptor subtype selective ligands. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1996;278(3):989-999 (abstract read; Ki for JWH-015 read from Howlett 2021) (new tab)PMID 8819477
  4. Howlett AC, Thomas BF, Huffman JW. The Spicy Story of Cannabimimetic Indoles. Molecules. 2021;26(20):6190 (JWH-015: Ki CB2 13.8 nM, selectivity 27) (new tab)PMID 34684770
  5. Wiley JL, Compton DR, Dai D, Lainton JAH, Phillips M, Huffman JW, Martin BR. Structure-activity relationships of indole- and pyrrole-derived cannabinoids. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1998;285(3):995-1004 (source of the ED50 values reproduced by Wiley 2012) (new tab)PMID 9618400
  6. Zhang Q et al. Identification of in vitro metabolites of JWH-015, an aminoalkylindole agonist for the peripheral cannabinoid receptor (CB2) by HPLC-MS/MS. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2006 (new tab)PMID 16955257
  7. Hutter M, Kneisel S, Auwärter V, Neukamm MA. Determination of 22 synthetic cannabinoids in human hair by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B. 2012;903:95-101 (new tab)PMID 22835826
  8. Zangani C et al. The e-Psychonauts' 'Spiced' World: assessment of the synthetic cannabinoids' information available online. Curr Neuropharmacol 2020 (JWH-015 in the UNODC, EUDA and NPSFinder lists) (new tab)PMID 32116194
  9. ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026 (annex IV, « indol-3-yl methanone » family, JWH-015 cited as an example) (new tab)
  10. Order of 31 March 2017 amending the order of 22 February 1990: « indol-3-yl methanone » family of annex IV, JWH-015 cited (Légifrance, JORF of 6 April 2017) (new tab)
  11. PubChem CID 4273754, JWH-015: identifiers, average mass 327.4 (new tab)

Identifiers

Names

IUPAC name
(2-methyl-1-propylindol-3-yl)-naphthalen-1-ylmethanone
Other names
JWH015

Identifiers

Formula
C₂₃H₂₁NO
CAS
155471-08-2
PubChem CID
4273754(new tab)
ChEBI
92318(new tab)
InChIKey
LJSBBBWQTLXQEN-UHFFFAOYSA-N
SMILES
CCCN1C(=C(C2=CC=CC=C21)C(=O)C3=CC=CC4=CC=CC=C43)C

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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