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Synthetic

JWH-210

Synthetic cannabinoid of the JWH series, potent CB1 agonist, classified 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.

C₂₆H₂₇NO

CAS 824959-81-1

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

Updated on

In plain terms

JWH-210 is a laboratory molecule with no link to hemp. It has been sprayed onto inert leaves to make the smoking mixtures sold as Spice, and it binds to the same receptors as THC with a much higher affinity in laboratory tests. It is a narcotic scheduled in France, and European emergency departments have described poisonings after its use.

Receptors and activity

Target network

CB1AgonistKi = 0.5 nM · not specified (compiled value)CB1 receptor binding (value from Huffman and Padgett 2005 reproduced by Wiley 2016)
  • Activates

The lower the cited value, the closer the target sits to JWH-210: 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-210.

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. CB1AgonistKi = 0.5 nM · not specified (compiled value)89 out of 100

    Wiley et al. 2016, Neuropharmacology (values from Huffman and Padgett 2005 reproduced in table 1) (new tab) · CB1 receptor binding (value from Huffman and Padgett 2005 reproduced by Wiley 2016)

  2. CB2AgonistKi = 0.5 nM · not specified (compiled value)88 out of 100

    Wiley et al. 2016, Neuropharmacology (values from Huffman and Padgett 2005 reproduced in table 1) (new tab) · CB2 receptor binding (value from Huffman and Padgett 2005 reproduced by Wiley 2016)

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-210 belongs to the naphthoylindoles, the first major generation of synthetic cannabinoids found in Spice-type mixtures. It is an agonist at the CB1 and CB2 receptors, with affinities of the order of 0.46 nM at CB1 and 0.5 to 0.7 nM at CB2 depending on the compilation, nearly ninety times that of THC at CB1 in the Wiley 2016 compilation. A series of 22 patients admitted to emergency departments with JWH-210 as the only synthetic cannabinoid in serum, between 0.18 and 90 ng/mL, reports tachycardia, nausea, somnolence, hypokalaemia, hypertension and agitation, with cases of diplopia, seizures, syncope and electrocardiogram abnormalities. An observational study in eight users who smoked 2 to 3 mg describes, by contrast, changes in subjective effects similar to those of THC but no significant cardiovascular change, which mostly illustrates the variability of responses. No therapeutic indication is established, no controlled clinical trial exists, and human data are limited to case series and field observations.

Key sources.

History

Source
An entirely synthetic molecule, absent from hemp and from any living organism. It has never been isolated from a plant: it is produced in a laboratory, then dissolved and sprayed onto plant material to form the mixtures sold under the names Spice, smoking incense or aromatic blends.

Origin

Laboratory synthesis

No biosynthetic pathway: JWH-210 is produced by no living organism and appears in no hemp chemotype. It belongs to synthetic chemistry alone; manufacture is described here only by its chemical class, the naphthoylindoles.

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-210 (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. Huffman et al., Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 2005: structure-activity relationships of 1-alkyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indoles, substitutions at position 4 of the naphthyl (new tab)PMID 15582455
  2. Wiley et al., Neuropharmacology, 2016: affinities of JWH-210 at cannabinoid (table 1) and non-cannabinoid receptors (new tab)PMID 27449567
  3. Debruyne and Le Boisselier, Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, 2015: review of synthetic cannabinoids (JWH-210 Ki: 0.46 nM CB1, 0.69 nM CB2) (new tab)PMID 26543389
  4. Hermanns-Clausen et al., Drug Testing and Analysis, 2016: adverse effects after use of JWH-210, case series from the European Spice II plus project (new tab)PMID 26768345
  5. Martínez et al., Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2021: acute effects and salivary concentrations of JWH-122 and JWH-210 in humans, observational study (new tab)PMID 34489699
  6. Schaefer et al., Drug Testing and Analysis, 2017: metabolic profiles of JWH-210, RCS-4 and THC in pig urine (new tab)PMID 27328899
  7. Uttl et al., Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2018: behavioural and pharmacokinetic profile of JWH-073 and JWH-210 compared with Δ9-THC in rats (new tab)PMID 30405327
  8. Cha et al., Biomolecules and Therapeutics, 2015: neurotoxicity of JWH-081 and JWH-210 in mice (new tab)PMID 26535086
  9. Hutter et al., Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 2012: major urinary metabolites of seven synthetic cannabinoids, including JWH-210 (new tab)PMID 22282090
  10. ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026, annex IV, entry JWH-210 (new tab)
  11. Order of 19 May 2015 amending the Order of 22 February 1990 setting the list of substances classified as narcotics (text cited by the ANSM list for this block of cannabinoids), Légifrance (new tab)
  12. INCB, Green List of psychotropic substances under international control, 35th edition, 2024 (Schedule II: JWH-210 absent) (new tab)
  13. PubChem, JWH-210, CID 45270396 (new tab)

Identifiers

Names

IUPAC name
(4-ethylnaphthalen-1-yl)-(1-pentylindol-3-yl)methanone
Other names
JWH 210

Identifiers

Formula
C₂₆H₂₇NO
CAS
824959-81-1
PubChem CID
45270396(new tab)
InChIKey
LACIUQLUNACUKC-UHFFFAOYSA-N
SMILES
CCCCCN1C=C(C2=CC=CC=C21)C(=O)C3=CC=C(C4=CC=CC=C43)CC

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

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