Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Apr;1489(1):48-77.
doi: 10.1111/nyas.14349. Epub 2020 May 12.

Designer drugs: a medicinal chemistry perspective (II)

F Ivy Carroll  1 , Anita H Lewin  1 , S Wayne Mascarella  1 , Herbert H Seltzman  1 , P Anantha Reddy  1
Affiliations
Review

Designer drugs: a medicinal chemistry perspective (II)

F Ivy Carroll et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

During 2012-2018, the clandestine manufacture of new psychoactive substances (NPS) designed to circumvent substance control regulations increased exponentially worldwide, with concomitant increase in fatalities. This review focuses on three compound classes identified as synthetic opioids, synthetic amphetamines, and synthetic cannabinoids and highlights the medicinal chemistry precedents utilized by clandestine laboratories to develop new NPS with increased brain penetration, longer duration of action, and greater potency. Chemical approaches to illicit drug abuse treatment options, particularly for opioid use disorder, are also discussed.

Keywords: amphetamines; cannabinoids; cathinones; new psychoactive substances; opioids.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Madras, B. 2017. The growing problem of new psychoactive substances (NPS). Curr. Top. Behav. Neurosci. 32: 1-18.
    1. Carroll, F., A. Lewin, S. Mascarella, et al. 2012. Designer drugs: a medicinal chemistry perspective. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1248: 18-38.
    1. Gol, E. & I. Cok. 2019. New psychoactive substances in Turkey: narcotics cases assessed by the Council of Forensic Medicine between 2016 and 2017 in Ankara, Turkey. Forensic Sci. Int. 294: 113-123.
    1. Evans-Brown, M. & R. Sedefov. 2018. Responding to new psychoactive substances in the European Union: early warning, risk assessment, and control measures. Handb. Exp. Pharmacol. 252: 3-49.
    1. Zloh, M., E. Samaras, J. Calvo-Castro, et al. 2017. Drowning in diversity? A systematic way of clustering and selecting a representative set of new psychoactive substances. RSC Adv. 7: 53181-53191.

MeSH terms