Fentanyl - A Potent Opioid Analgesic: A Review

Abstract

Fentanyl is a potent analgesic that is almost a hundred times accented than morphine, the use of fentanyl is pain allayer and anesthetic was adopted in the medical primed. Fentanyl was first introduced by Dr. Jansen in 1959. Many type of fentanyl derivatives have been developed by adding respective substituents to the canonic molecule inorder to alter the potency, some of the ensunting molecules may exist as isomers. (The isomers of 3-methylfentanyl), which have different types of analgesic potencies depends on which is used. Bever reported that the 3rd position of a methyl group (-CH3) into the piperidine ring, increases analgesic potency. The Trans isomer was slightly more active agent than fentanyl, but its respective cis form was eight folds more active. They found that activity of the cis (+) 3-methylfentanyl more potent than fentanyl, whereas the cis negative form was less potent.