JWH-098

JWH-098 is a synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist from the naphthoylindole family. It is the indole 2-methyl derivative of a closely related compound JWH-081, but has markedly different affinity for the CB₁ and CB₂ receptors. While JWH-081 is around tenfold selective for CB₁ over CB₂, in JWH-098 this is reversed, and it is around four times weaker than JWH-081 at CB₁ while being six times more potent at CB₂, giving it a slight selectivity for CB₂ overall. This makes JWH-098 a good example of how methylation of the indole 2-position in the naphthoylindole series tends to increase CB₂ affinity, but often at the expense of CB₁ binding.