MOLECULE

Dehydrocannabifuran

Dehydrocannabifuran belongs to the class of organic compounds known as dibenzofurans. Dibenzofurans are compounds containing a dibenzofuran moiety, which consists of two benzene rings fused to a central furan ring. Dehydrocannabifuran is one of more than 120 cannabinoid compounds that have been identified in cannabis plants (PMID: 6991645). Structurally it can be considered as the fully aromatized derivative of cannabielsoin (CBE). As CBE, dehydrocannabifuran is a molecule of mixed biosynthetic origin, in which its aromatic moiety (derived from olivetolic acid) occurs through the polyketide biosynthetic pathway while the prenylated sidechain derives from the MEP pathway of the terpenoids (DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-800756-3.00002-8). Similarly to the case of cannabielsoin, the inclusion of dehydrocannabifuran as a Cannabis natural product is controversial, because it has been isolated and identified infrequently. Additionally, dehydrocannabifuran can be considered a derivative of cannabielsoin, which is most likely a product of the photo-oxidation of cannabidiol (CBD). Mention of dehydrocannabifuran in the scientific literature is very scarce and no reports on its biological activity exist. Dehydrocannabifuran is also found in cannabis smoke and is volatilized during the combustion of cannabis (DOI: 10.1007/978-1-59259-947-9_2).