JWH-046

JWH-046 belongs to the 1-alkyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indoles, a series studied by John W. Huffman at Clemson University to improve CB2 ligands and to establish the structure-activity relationship at CB1 and CB2. It carries a propyl on the indole nitrogen, a methyl at position 2 and a naphthyl methylated at position 7. The published affinities are about 344 nM at rat CB1 and 16.0 nM at human CB2, according to De Freitas et al. (2009). No functional measurement specific to this compound, no pharmacokinetic data, and no human or toxicological data were found in the consulted sources. In France, it is controlled as a narcotic through a generic clause, not by its name.

Source

Fully synthetic molecule. No consulted source describes it in a plant or in any living organism: it is a synthetic compound published within research on cannabinoid receptors.

No biosynthetic pathway: the molecule is produced by no living organism and comes solely from organic synthesis, by acylation of the indole at position 3.

European Union

No harmonised control measure at European Union level was identified for this compound in the consulted sources: control falls under the national law of the member states. It is also absent from the INCB Green List 2026, which lists substances under the international conventions.

France

Not named in the ANSM consolidated list of 16 February 2026, but subject to the narcotics regime through a generic clause. Annex IV of this list defines the indol-3-yl methanone family: an alkyl-type substituent on the indole nitrogen, and a naphthyl group, substituted or not, on the methanone carbon. JWH-046 meets these conditions: its nitrogen carries a propyl and its methanone carries a naphthyl methylated at position 7, which the definition allows. JWH-015, which differs only by this methyl, is cited by name in the same annex. Production, possession, transfer and use fall under the criminal regime for narcotics.

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

1. 1Huffman et coll., relations structure-activité des 1-alkyl-3-(1-naphtoyl)indoles sur CB1 et CB2, Bioorg Med Chem 2005 (new tab)PMID 15582455
2. 2De Freitas et coll., modèles CoMFA et CoMSIA d'affinité des ligands indoles de CB1 et CB2, Eur J Med Chem 2009 (new tab)PMID 19249138
3. 3ChEMBL, CHEMBL558801, mesures de liaison CB1 et CB2 de JWH-046 (new tab)
4. 4PubChem, CID 11473309, JWH-046 (new tab)
5. 5ANSM, liste consolidée des substances classées comme stupéfiants, mise à jour du 16 février 2026 (annexe IV, famille des indol-3-yl méthanones) (new tab)
6. 6INCB, Green List 2026 (substances des conventions internationales) (new tab)

SMILES

CCCN1C(=C(C2=CC=CC=C21)C(=O)C3=CC=CC4=C3C=C(C=C4)C)C

InChIKey

AYSKEJYDZUJEIT-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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