Trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine
3-Trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine is a recreational drug of the phenylpiperazine chemical class and is a substituted piperazine. Usually in combination with benzylpiperazine and other analogues, it is sold as an alternative to the illicit drug MDMA.
Use and effects
TFMPP is rarely used by itself. In fact, TFMPP reduces locomotor activity and produces aversive effects in animals rather than self-administration, which may explain the decision of the DEA not to permanently make TFMPP a controlled substance. More commonly, TFMPP is co-administered with BZP, which acts as a norepinephrine and dopamine releasing agent. Due to the serotonin agonist effects and increase in serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine levels produced by the BZP/TFMPP combination, this mixture of drugs produces effects which crudely mimic those of MDMA.In a clinical study, TFMPP produced effects in humans including dysphoria, dextroamphetamine-like effects, tension and anxiety, mental confusion and "bewilderment", and increased ratings of "drug liking", "high", and "stimulated". The drug has been anecdotally reported to produce mild psychedelic effects in humans, but no hallucinogenic effects with the drug were described in the study at the employed dose.
Side effects
The combination of BZP and TFMPP has been associated with a range of side effects, including insomnia, anxiety, nausea and vomiting, headaches and muscle aches which may resemble migraine, seizures, impotence, and rarely psychosis, as well as a prolonged and unpleasant hangover effect. These side effects tend to be significantly worsened when the BZP/TFMPP mix is consumed alongside alcohol, especially the headache, nausea, and hangover.However, it is difficult to say how many of these side effects are produced by TFMPP itself, as it has rarely been marketed without BZP also being present, and all of the side effects mentioned are also produced by BZP. Studies into other related piperazine drugs such as mCPP suggest that certain side effects such as anxiety, headache and nausea are common to all drugs of this class, and pills containing TFMPP are reported by users to produce comparatively more severe hangover effects than those containing only BZP. The drug can also cause the body to tremble for a long period of time.
Pharmacology
Pharmacodynamics
TFMPP has affinity for the 5-HT1A, 5-HT1B, 5-HT1D, 5-HT2A, and 5-HT2C receptors, and functions as a full agonist at all sites except the 5-HT2A receptor, where it acts as a weak partial agonist or antagonist. Unlike the related piperazine compound meta-chlorophenylpiperazine, TFMPP has insignificant affinity for the 5-HT3 receptor. TFMPP also binds to the SERT and evokes the release of serotonin. It has no effects on dopamine or norepinephrine reuptake or efflux.TFMPP has been found to reduce aggression in rodents. It produces the head-twitch response, a behavioral proxy of psychedelic effects, in rodents, and hence would be predicted to have hallucinogenic effects in humans. TFMPP was not self-administered by rhesus monkeys, suggesting that it lacks reinforcing effects.