spec sheet6 rows
Mesocarb, marketed in the Soviet Union as Sydnocarb, was synthesized in the early 1970s as a stimulant with a smoother pharmacological profile than amphetamine. Where classic amphetamines flood synapses by forcing dopamine release, sydnocarb works mainly by blocking the dopamine transporter directly, and it turned out to be an unusually selective one; by some later measurements it is among the most DAT-selective reuptake inhibitors ever characterized. Soviet and later Russian medicine used it for over 30 years to treat narcolepsy, asthenia, apathy and attention problems in children, effectively occupying the clinical niche that methylphenidate and amphetamine fill in the West, but it was withdrawn as a licensed Russian pharmaceutical in 2008 as stimulant controls tightened, and it is now better known internationally as a doping-control flag than as a treatment.
- clinically used for narcolepsy and asthenia for decades in Russia
- one of the most selective dopamine transporter inhibitors ever characterized
- does not rely on direct monoamine release the way amphetamines do
- historically used for attention difficulties in children in Russian medicine
- still a dopaminergic stimulant with abuse and cardiovascular risk
- essentially no modern Western clinical safety data
- Sydnocarb was reported in 2017 as the most selective dopamine transporter inhibitor described to date, out of a large comparison set of DAT-blocking compounds.
- It occupied roughly the clinical role in Soviet medicine that methylphenidate and amphetamine occupy in the West, for narcolepsy, asthenia and attention problems.
Mechanism
Potent and unusually selective () inhibitor (Ki approximately 8.3 nM), with much weaker transporter blockade (Ki approximately 10.1 uM); lacks the direct monoamine-releasing action of classic amphetamines, though a portion is metabolized to D-amphetamine in vivo.
Safetyrisks and cautions, not medical advice
Sydnocarb's reputation is that it is gentler than amphetamine, and the animal work half supports it. Head to head with methamphetamine in rodents it was roughly ten times weaker at driving locomotion and striatal dopamine and produced far less stereotypy. The other half is less flattering: it fully substituted for methamphetamine in drug discrimination, rats self-administered it, and part of a dose becomes D-amphetamine, so the abuse liability is reduced rather than absent. Ordinary stimulant risks apply, including raised blood pressure, insomnia and appetite loss. Nothing sold under the name has had a label since 2008.
History
Synthesized in the USSR in the early 1970s; used clinically in Russia for over 30 years for narcolepsy, asthenia, apathy and pediatric attention disorders; withdrawn as a licensed pharmaceutical in Russia in 2008; has appeared in doping cases in international sport.
Subjective profileweighing the evidence above
A pharmacologically clean, highly selective dopamine reuptake blocker that Soviet and Russian medicine relied on for three decades while the rest of the world never got formally introduced to it.
Resources
This entry is here for reference.
Research
- 1981first citedInhibition of dopamine uptake by a new psychostimulant mesocarb (Sydnocarb)
- 2021most recentFunctional Characterization of the Dopaminergic Psychostimulant Sydnocarb as an Allosteric Modu…
- 1.Inhibition of dopamine uptake by a new psychostimulant mesocarb (Sydnocarb)
- 2.Functional Characterization of the Dopaminergic Psychostimulant Sydnocarb as an Allosteric Modulator of the Human Dopamine Transporter.
- 3.Characterization of pharmacological and wake-promoting properties of the dopaminergic stimulant sydnocarb in rats
3 listed here; entry last updated August 2026
Reviews
My notesprivate to this device
FAQ
Is mesocarb the same as amphetamine?
No. It partly converts to D-amphetamine in the body, but its primary action is as a highly selective dopamine transporter blocker rather than a dopamine releaser, which historically gave it a different, less "amped" clinical profile.
Can you still get sydnocarb as a medicine?
It was withdrawn as a licensed pharmaceutical in Russia in 2008, so it is no longer legally manufactured for clinical use there or anywhere else.
Adverse effects
- still a dopaminergic stimulant with abuse and cardiovascular risk
- essentially no modern Western clinical safety data
Notes and cautions
- withdrawn as a licensed drug in its home country in 2008
- flagged as a banned substance in competitive sport