JWH-120.

JWH-120 is a synthetic cannabinoid of the naphthoylindole series, described in 2005 by John W. Huffman's group at Clemson University. Reported affinities are 6.1 nM for CB2 and 1 054 nM for CB1, a ratio of about 173 in favour of CB2. The published functional assay classes it as a partial CB2 agonist, whereas JWH-151, from the same series, is a full agonist. No human, pharmacokinetic or toxicological data were found in the sources consulted, and no therapeutic indication is established. In France, it is not named in the narcotics list but falls under the generic clause for indol-3-yl methanones, which makes it a narcotic.

Source

Synthetic molecule, prepared by John W. Huffman's group in the naphthoylindole series (Huffman et al., 2005). No source consulted reports it in hemp or in any other living organism.

Biosynthetic pathway: none described. This is a synthetic molecule. It belongs to synthetic chemistry, in the naphthoylindole class: a carbonyl group links position 3 of an N-alkylated indole to a naphthalene.

European Union

This entry cites no European source, so no harmonised European Union control measure is established for JWH-120 here.

France

JWH-120 is not named in the ANSM consolidated list of narcotics (update of 16 February 2026). It does fall under the generic family of indol-3-yl methanones, defined in Annex IV of that list following the order of 14 October 2019 amending the order of 22 February 1990: an alkyl-type substituent on the indole nitrogen and a naphthyl-type group, substituted or not, on the methanone bridge. JWH-120 meets both conditions (N-propyl chain, methyl-bearing naphthyl): it is therefore classed as a narcotic in France under that clause.

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 aux récepteurs CB1 et CB2, Bioorg Med Chem, 2005 (new tab)PMID 15582455
2. 2Markt et coll., criblage virtuel de ligands CB2 par pharmacophore, J Med Chem, 2009 (new tab)PMID 19143566
3. 3De Freitas et coll., modèles CoMFA et CoMSIA des ligands indoles CB1 et CB2, Eur J Med Chem, 2009 (new tab)PMID 19249138
4. 4ChEMBL, fiche composé CHEMBL497811 (valeurs Ki CB1 et CB2 compilées) (new tab)
5. 5PubChem, CID 11461586 (JWH-120) (new tab)
6. 6ANSM, liste consolidée des substances classées comme stupéfiants (mise à jour du 16 février 2026), annexe IV, famille des indol-3-yl méthanones (new tab)
7. 7Arrêté du 14 octobre 2019 modifiant l'arrêté du 22 février 1990 fixant la liste des substances classées comme stupéfiants (new tab)
8. 8INCB, Green List 2026 (conventions de 1961 et 1971), JWH-120 non inscrit (new tab)

SMILES

CCCN1C=C(C2=CC=CC=C21)C(=O)C3=CC=C(C4=CC=CC=C43)C

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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