Recent advances in cannabinoid receptor agonists and antagonists

This review is an overview of the recent advances in cannabinoid chemistry with a special emphasis on the patent literature. The term cannabinoid includes analogues of the natural components of cannabis, endocannabinoids and a Nide array of chemical structures such as 1,5-diarylpyrazoles, indoles, quinolines and arylsulphonamide derivatives capable of acting as cannabinoid receptor agonists and antagonists. These receptors, discovered in the early nineties, seem to be involved in different biochemical processes and thus represent interesting therapeutic targets for drug research.