THC-O-phosphate

THC-O-phosphate
Identifiers
	IUPAC name O-Phosphoryl-Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol;
PubChem CID	9865413;
ChemSpider	21396139 ;
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)	DTXSID001027124 ;
Chemical and physical data
Formula	C21H31O5P
Molar mass	394.448 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)	Interactive image;
	SMILES OP(O)(=O)Oc3cc(CCCCC)cc2OC(C)(C)C1C\C=C(\C)CC1c23;
	InChI InChI=1S/C21H31O5P/c1-5-6-7-8-15-12-18-20(19(13-15)26-27(22,23)24)16-11-14(2)9-10-17(16)21(3,4)25-18/h9,12-13,16-17H,5-8,10-11H2,1-4H3,(H2,22,23,24) ; Key:SVDBVZOOOSEJCD-UHFFFAOYSA-N ;
	(verify)

THC-O-phosphate is a water-soluble organophosphate ester derivative of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which functions as a metabolic prodrug for THC itself. It was invented in 1978 in an attempt to get around the poor water solubility of THC and make it easier to inject for the purposes of animal research into its pharmacology and mechanism of action. The main disadvantage of THC phosphate ester is the slow rate of hydrolysis of the ester link, resulting in delayed onset of action and lower potency than the parent drug. Pharmacologically, it is comparable to the action of psilocybin as a metabolic prodrug for psilocin.

THC phosphate ester is made by reacting THC with phosphoryl chloride using pyridine as a solvent, following by quenching with water to produce THC phosphate ester. In the original research the less active but more stable isomer Δ⁸-THC was used, but the same reaction scheme could be used to make the phosphate ester of the more active isomer Δ⁹-THC.^[1]

References

^ Yoshimura H, Watanabe K, Oguri K, Fujiwara M, Ueki S (October 1978). "Synthesis and pharmacological activity of a phosphate ester of delta8-tetrahydrocannabinol". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 21 (10): 1079–81. doi:10.1021/jm00208a014. PMID 569207.