Abstract
Psychoactive benzofurans, also known as benzo fury, are new psychoactive substances (NPS) belonging to the phenethylamine family, one of the most numerous NPS groups. These substances share a structural similarity with the classical entactogen 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) and its main metabolite 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), and are often used as alternatives to these well-known drugs. In this chapter, the chemistry, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and biological effects of benzofurans, as well as their applications to areas of addiction and public health, are reviewed to provide the reader with a general comprehension and knowledge of what these drugs and their use entail and what might be expected of future benzofuran analogues reaching the (il)legal drug market.
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Abbreviations
- 5-APB:
-
5-(2-Aminopropyl)benzofuran
- 5-APDB:
-
5-(2-Aminopropyl)-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran
- 5-EAPB:
-
5-(2-Ethylaminopropyl)benzofuran
- 5-MAPB:
-
1-(1-Benzofuran-5-yl)-N-methylpropan-2-amine
- 5-MAPDB:
-
1-(2,3-Dihydrobenzofuran-5-yl)-N-methylpropan-2-amine
- 6-APB:
-
6-(2-Aminopropyl)benzofuran
- 6-APDB:
-
6-(2-Aminopropyl)-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran
- 6-EAPB:
-
6-(2-Ethylaminopropyl)benzofuran
- 6-MAPB:
-
1-(1-Benzofuran-6-yl)-N-methylpropan-2-amine
- 5-HT:
-
Serotonin
- DA:
-
Dopamine
- DAT:
-
Dopamine transporter
- MDA:
-
3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine
- MDMA:
-
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
- NA:
-
Noradrenaline
- NAT:
-
Noradrenaline transporter
- NPS:
-
New psychoactive substance(s)
- SERT:
-
Serotonin transporter
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Acknowledgements
This work was financed by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 – Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), and by Portuguese funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) in the framework of the project POCI-01− 0145-FEDER- 029584. This work was also supported by the project UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences–UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy–i4HB.
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Roque Bravo, R., Silva, J.P., Carmo, H., Carvalho, F., Dias da Silva, D. (2022). The Toll of Benzofurans in the Context of Drug Abuse. In: Patel, V.B., Preedy, V.R. (eds) Handbook of Substance Misuse and Addictions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92392-1_168
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92392-1_168
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