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SAR of psilocybin analogs: discovery of a selective 5-HT 2C agonist.

Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters (2005-08-03)
Howard Sard, Govindaraj Kumaran, Cynthia Morency, Bryan L Roth, Beth Ann Toth, Ping He, Louis Shuster
ABSTRACT

An SAR study of psilocybin and psilocin derivatives reveals that 1-methylpsilocin is a selective agonist at the h5-HT(2C) receptor. The corresponding phosphate derivative, 1-methylpsilocybin, shows efficacy in an animal model for obsessive-compulsive disorder, as does 4-fluoro-N,N-dimethyltryptamine. These results suggest a new area for development of novel 5-HT(2C) agonists with applications for drug discovery.