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The term SC covers all synthetic substances binding to, and agonizing, one of the two known cannabinoid receptors (CB₁ or CB₂) and their structural/chemical analogues. Colloquially referred to as ‘K2’ or ‘Spice’, SCs include a wide range of compounds with various chemical modifications [20]. Given the variety of compounds, there have been difficulties establishing consistent nomenclature in the identification of SCs [37].

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Additionally, many naming systems for SCs are employed ranging from those created for marketing purposes (such as ‘Black Mamba’) to chemical names (typically employed by chemists and forensicists) to colloquial or “street” terms (such as ‘K2’).

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Simplified approaches of creating serial names (such as identifiers based on those that first discover the compound) or systematic abbreviated names have been proposed, but no single naming system has been agreed upon by experts. Broadly SCs can be chemically classified by their chemical moieties as broken down by their core, tail, linker, and linked group (see Fig. 15.2). The core group most commonly consists of an indole, indazole, or a carbazole.

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Further chemical modification is performed by linkage – via a methanone, ethenone, caroboxamide, or carboxylate group – to another chemical group such as a naphthyl group. The addition of the linked and tail group has provided significant chemical variety among SCs. A classification and examples of the numerous available SCs is provided in Table 15.2[37–41]. Table 15.2 is by not inclusive of all known SCs with at least 180 known chemical variations as of