14-Methoxymetopon
| Clinical data | |
|---|---|
| Other names | 14-Methoxymetopon |
| Identifiers | |
| |
| CAS Number | |
| PubChem CID | |
| ChemSpider |
|
| ChEMBL | |
| CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
| Chemical and physical data | |
| Formula | C19H23NO4 |
| Molar mass | 329.396 g·mol−1 |
| 3D model (JSmol) | |
| |
| |
|
| |
14-Methoxymetopon is an experimental opioid drug developed by a team led by Professor Helmut Schmidhammer at the University of Insbruck in the mid 1990s. It is a derivative of metopon in which a methoxy group has been inserted at the 14-position. It is a highly potent analgesic drug that is around 500 times stronger than morphine when administered systemically; however, when given spinally or supraspinally, it exhibits analgesic activity up to a million fold greater than morphine. It binds strongly to the μ-opioid receptor and activates it to a greater extent than most similar opioid drugs. This produces an unusual pharmacological profile, and although 14-methoxymetopon acts as a potent μ-opioid full agonist in regard to some effects such as analgesia, a ceiling effect is seen on other effects such as constipation and respiratory depression which is believed to involve interaction with the κ-opioid receptor