cannabinol

Cannabinol (CBN) is a mildly psychoactive phytocannabinoid that acts as a low affinity partial agonist at the CB1 and CB2 receptors of the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

Key facts

Drug.Verifiedfields: changed
Drug.Watchedfields: changed
Drug.verifiedrevid: 477165540
Drug.image: Cannabinol-2D-skeletal.svg
Drug.image_class: skin-invert-image
Drug.width: 250px
Drug.image2: Cannabinol 3D.png
Drug.image_class2: bg-transparent
Drug.width2: 200px
Drug.legal_CA: Unscheduled
Drug.legal_UK: Class B
Drug.legal_US: Unscheduled
Drug.IUPAC_name: 6,6,9-Trimethyl-3-pentyl-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol
Drug.C: 21
Drug.H: 26
Drug.O: 2
Drug.SMILES: Oc2cc(cc1OC(c3c(c12)cc(cc3)C)(C)C)CCCCC
Drug.StdInChI: 1S/C21H26O2/c1-5-6-7-8-15-12-18(22)20-16-11-14(2)9-10-17(16)21(3,4)23-19(20)13-15/h9-13,22H,5-8H2,1-4H3

via Wikipedia infobox

Chemical data

Formula: C21H26O2
Molecular weight: 310.4 g/mol
IUPAC name: 6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentylbenzo[c]chromen-1-ol
SMILES: CCCCCC1=CC(=C2C(=C1)OC(C3=C2C=C(C=C3)C)(C)C)O
InChIKey: VBGLYOIFKLUMQG-UHFFFAOYSA-N
XLogP: 6.1
Polar surface area: 29.5 Å²
H-bond donors: 1
H-bond acceptors: 2
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Research

1,064 papers

Cannabinol and Sleep: Separating Fact from Fiction.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2021
Cannabinol: History, Syntheses, and Biological Profile of the Greatest "Minor" Cannabinoid.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022
Cannabinol (CBN) alleviates age-related cognitive decline by improving synaptic and mitochondrial health.Redox biology · 2025
Cannabinol inhibits oxytosis/ferroptosis by directly targeting mitochondria independently of cannabinoid receptors.Free radical biology & medicine · 2022
Cannabinol modulates the endocannabinoid system and shows TRPV1-mediated anti-inflammatory properties in human keratinocytes.BioFactors (Oxford, England) · 2025

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Mass: 310.193

Show 3 more facts

chemical formula: C₂₁H₂₆O₂
canonical SMILES: CCCCCC1=CC2=C(C(=C1)O)C3=C(C=CC(=C3)C)C(O2)(C)C
Commons category: Cannabinol

Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Article

14 sections

Contents

Pharmacology
Pharmacodynamics
Putative receptor targets
Neurotransmitter interactions
Pharmacokinetics
Chemistry
Chemical structure
History
Society and culture
Legal status
United States
Biosynthesis
References
External links

Cannabinol (CBN) is a mildly psychoactive phytocannabinoid that acts as a low affinity partial agonist at the CB1 and CB2 receptors of the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

Although CBN shares the same mechanism of action as other phytocannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it has a lower affinity for CB1 receptors, meaning that much higher doses of CBN are required in order to experience intoxicating effects.