Designer benzodiazepines versus prescription benzodiazepines: can structural relation predict the next step?

Abstract

Designer benzodiazepines are a part of the recently discovered abuse synthetic drugs called Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) which need to be controlled due to their constantly growing market. Most of them are derived from the medically approved benzodiazepines used nowadays yet, may possess stronger effects, more toxicity, and longer durations of action. Some differences have also been observed in their detection and characteristics, in addition to the variations discovered in postmortem redistribution and drug stability. All these major alterations in features can result from only minor structural modifications. For example, a classic benzodiazepine (BZD) like diazepam only lacks one fluorine atom which exists in its derivatized designer drug, diclazepam, making substantial differences in activity. For this reason, it is essential to study the designer drugs in order to identify their dangers and distinguish them thus rule out their abuse and control the spread of such drugs. This review would highlight the distinct characteristics of some of the most commonly abused designer benzodiazepine analogies in relation to their original prescription BZD compounds.

Keywords:

• Diclzepam
• diazepam
• flunitrazepam
• nifoxipam
• fonazepam
• designer benzodiazepines
• novel psychoactive substances
• detection
• postmortem
• 4-chlordiazepam
• 4-chlorodiazepam
• desmethylflunitrazepam
• norflunitrazepam
• 3-hydroxydesmethylflunitrazepam
• Ro5-4864

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and efforts to improve this review. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Akram A. Ashames, an associate professor at Ajman University and Dr. AbduelMola R. AbduelKarem an associate professor at Sharjah University for their efforts in critically revising this article.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.