Semi-synthetic cannabinoid
ZYN-001
Δ9-THC prodrug tested in phase I, with no primary publication found.
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.
Receptors and activity
- CB1Agonist20 out of 100
aucune constante d'affinité publiée ; agoniste attribué par Wikipédia (repère tertiaire)
- CB2Agonist20 out of 100
aucune constante d'affinité publiée ; agoniste attribué par Wikipédia (repère tertiaire)
Subjective signature
- Calm
- 10 out of 100
- Relaxation of body and mind; reduced mental noise without marked drowsiness.
- Clarity
- 5 out of 100
- Sustained attention and clear thinking; functional lucidity, not euphoria.
- High
- 5 out of 100
- Euphoria and sensory intensity; altered perception of time and space.
- Appetite
- 5 out of 100
- Stimulation of hunger and of taste appreciation (the “munchies” effect).
- Sleep
- 5 out of 100
- Sedative effect: aids sleep onset and the continuity of deep sleep.
Pharmacology
ZYN-001 is a glyceric ester of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), presented by the American company Zynerba Pharmaceuticals as a THC prodrug and administered by transdermal patch. A review by Stella et al. (2021) reports that its phase I trial, conducted in Australia for fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, did not reach the target blood THC concentrations of 5 to 15 ng/mL, with a patch dosed at 36 mg. Development was abandoned, and according to Wikipedia (tertiary source) the molecule was never marketed. No affinity constant for CB1 or CB2 is published for the intact molecule, and no published human result beyond this finding was found. In France, it is explicitly covered by the list of narcotics as an ester of THC.
Key sources.
- Stella et coll., Formulations et systèmes d'administration des cannabinoïdes pour traiter la douleur, Drugs 2021 (new tab)PMID 34480749
- Wikipédia (en), article « ZYN-001 » (repère tertiaire) (new tab)
- ANSM, liste consolidée des substances classées comme stupéfiants, mise à jour du 16 février 2026 (annexe III, entrée « Tétrahydrocannabinols, leurs esters, éthers, sels ») (new tab)
- OICS, Liste verte, 36e édition 2025 (convention de 1971, tableau I, PT 002 tétrahydrocannabinol et isomères) (new tab)
- PubChem, CID 153257813 (ZYN-001, identifiants) (new tab)
History
- Source
- ZYN-001 is a synthetic molecule derived from Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) by esterifying its phenol group with glyceric acid. The American company Zynerba Pharmaceuticals developed it as a THC prodrug, in the form of a transdermal patch. None of the sources consulted describes it as a natural constituent of cannabis.
Route of preparation (chemical process)
No biosynthetic pathway: ZYN-001 is a synthetic derivative, obtained by an esterification reaction. Only the class of reaction is described here.
Legal framework
- European Union
No harmonised control measure at European Union level was found for ZYN-001: control is a matter for Member States. Internationally, the INCB Green List (36th edition, 2025) names tetrahydrocannabinol and its isomers but not esters, so the molecule is not explicitly named there.
- France
ZYN-001 is named in Annex III of the consolidated list of narcotics (updated 16 February 2026), which reproduces Schedules I and II of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, under the entry "Tetrahydrocannabinols, their esters, ethers, salts and salts of the aforementioned derivatives". ZYN-001 is an ester of Δ9-THC, so it falls under this named entry and its status is that of a narcotic.
Sources: EUR-Lex, UNODC, CND, ANSM, IUPHAR/BPS, ChEBI, EUDA. Our method.
References
- Stella et coll., Formulations et systèmes d'administration des cannabinoïdes pour traiter la douleur, Drugs 2021 (new tab)PMID 34480749
- Wikipédia (en), article « ZYN-001 » (repère tertiaire) (new tab)
- ANSM, liste consolidée des substances classées comme stupéfiants, mise à jour du 16 février 2026 (annexe III, entrée « Tétrahydrocannabinols, leurs esters, éthers, sels ») (new tab)
- OICS, Liste verte, 36e édition 2025 (convention de 1971, tableau I, PT 002 tétrahydrocannabinol et isomères) (new tab)
- PubChem, CID 153257813 (ZYN-001, identifiants) (new tab)
Structured data
- SMILES
- CCCCCc1cc(OC(=O)C(O)CO)c2c(c1)OC(C)(C)[C@@H]1CCC(C)=C[C@@H]21
- InChIKey
- WUPURSKTAUGQRZ-PWCSWUJKSA-N
LLM ingestion format: a structured superset of the entry (identifiers, binding, versioned legal status). Full corpus.