GLOSSARY · CHEMISTRY AND THE BODY

Bufotenine

Also called: bufotenin, 5-OH-DMT

5-hydroxy-DMT: the DMT skeleton with a hydroxyl group at ring position 5. It occurs in some toad secretions, and the body also makes it from 5-MeO-DMT. Whether it is psychedelic in people is unsettled.

Bufotenine is a tryptamine that differs from DMT by one hydroxyl group at position 5 of the indole ring; PubChem lists it as C12H16N2O (PubChem, bufotenine). 5-MeO-DMT has a methoxy group in that spot instead, and in the body the liver enzyme CYP2D6 removes its methyl to produce bufotenine, an active metabolite that binds the 5-HT2A receptor more strongly than its parent (Reckweg et al., 2022).

The name comes from Bufo, the old toad genus. A 2022 review lists bufotenine among the compounds in the Sonoran Desert toad’s secretion, alongside 5-MeO-DMT and heart-active toxins (Reckweg et al., 2022). In 1961 Julius Axelrod reported an enzyme that methylates serotonin into bufotenine (Axelrod, 1961).

Whether it is psychedelic in people is unresolved. A 2000 review argued that it acts like other psychedelics at 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors and that its weak effects in human experiments are best explained by poor passage across the blood-brain barrier, while saying direct human evidence “seems lacking” (McBride, 2000). In Canada, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act text current to 30 September 2026 does not name it in its schedules (CDSA). This is not legal advice.

Sources

Last checked October 26, 2026.