Recent Advances in the Chemistry and Metabolism of the Cannabinoids

Abstract

The psychotomimetic activity of the variety of hemp known as Cannabis sativa has been known since antiquity. Various preparations of this plant under the names of marijuana, hashish, charas, dagga, and bhang are smoked or chewed by possibly two to three hundred million people. Accordingly, these materials undoubtedly constitute the most widely used group of illicit drugs. The chemistry of these Cannabis constituents studied extensively during the 1940’s by Todd and his colleagues and the late Roger Adams and his students has been reviewed^1-2-3-4. However, real progress in the isolation, structural elucidation and synthesis of the various cannabinoids has come only in the last decade, aided by the numerous modern separation methods, analytical techniques, and, most notably, by the development of NMR and mass spectrometry.