Bromantane Is Not a Peptide: Clearing Up the Query

By What Peptides Editorial Team · Updated 2026-09-14 · Part of Peptide Structure, Classification & Scientific Terminology

Bromantane is not a peptide. It is a small synthetic molecule, an adamantane derivative whose chemical name is N-(4-bromophenyl)adamantan-2-amine, with the molecular formula C16H20BrN and a molar mass of about 306 grams per mole; it is recorded in PubChem under compound identifier 4660557. It contains no amino acid residues, no peptide bonds and no chain, so none of the vocabulary used for peptides applies to it. The compound is described in Russian-language pharmacology literature as an actoprotector, and it appears on sport anti-doping prohibited lists. Those two facts are reported here as matters of record. This page gives no dose, makes no performance claim, and provides no instruction of any kind.

The pairing of the two words in the query is the interesting part, and it is not a chemical observation. Search terms are generated by autocomplete, by catalog tags and by forum habits, and the word peptide is attached to a great many compounds that have nothing to do with peptides. Separating the query from the substance is most of the work here. The structural vocabulary used on this site is set out in peptide structure and classification terminology, the labelling conventions attached to research materials are explained in what research use only means on a label, and the documentation categories used for sports supply chains are discussed in how sports supplements are described and tested.

What the compound actually is

Adamantane is a rigid tricyclic cage, C10H16, whose carbon skeleton is a fragment of the diamond lattice; it is compact, symmetric and strongly lipophilic. Bromantane carries an amino group on the adamantane at position 2, and that nitrogen also bears a 4-bromophenyl group, making the molecule a secondary aryl amine. Other adamantane amines appear in medicine, amantadine and memantine being the two most familiar examples, though they are different compounds with different properties and different histories. What they share is the cage, which confers rigidity and resistance to metabolism rather than any particular activity, and which has nothing in common with a peptide backbone.

Contrast that with what a peptide is. A peptide has a repeating amide backbone built from residues, and its mass advances in steps of roughly 110 Da on average per residue, with 18.01056 Da of water lost for each bond formed. It has an amino terminus and a carboxyl terminus, a direction, a sequence, and usually a defined disulfide pattern. Bromantane has none of those features: it has one mass, about 305.08 Da monoisotopic, no termini, no sequence, and no residue ladder. It would be characterized the way any small molecule is, by elemental formula, chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance, rather than by sequencing or Edman degradation.

One practical detail distinguishes it in the mass spectrometer. A single bromine atom produces two roughly equal isotope peaks, because bromine-79 and bromine-81 occur in almost equal abundance, so the molecular ion appears as a pair separated by two mass units at about one-to-one intensity. No peptide shows that pattern from a halogen, and it is the sort of immediate visual cue that tells an analyst the compound is not a chain. The table below collects these properties together with the reason each one matters.

What actoprotector means as a literature term

Actoprotector is a category label that comes out of Soviet and Russian military and sports pharmacology. In that literature it describes agents reported to increase physical work capacity and to speed recovery under extreme conditions, and the original framing held that they did so without a proportional increase in oxygen consumption or heat production. Related terms from the same tradition include adaptogen, which is a broader and more loosely defined idea. The important point for a reader is that actoprotector is a term used within a particular body of literature; it is not a pharmacological class recognized in the classification systems used by major regulatory agencies, and describing a compound that way is a claim made in publications rather than a status granted by anyone.

Reading that literature takes some care. It is largely Russian-language, and translations vary in how they render the category names, which is one reason the terms migrate into English-language forum writing with shades of meaning they did not carry in the original. A category label should not be confused with an evaluation: saying that a compound has been studied as an actoprotector says something about the questions researchers asked, and nothing about whether a regulator has assessed it for any use. This page makes no performance claim and describes no effect in a person, because the reported findings are not something this site can summarize as an outcome and because no such summary would be appropriate here.

Regulatory and sport status, stated as status only

Bromantane, listed under the spelling bromantan, appears in class S6, Stimulants, on the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List. That list is revised annually, and the current published version is the only authoritative text, so anyone needing certainty should read it directly at the source rather than rely on a summary. The listing is reported here as a fact of record about a document. It is not advice to any person, it is not a comment on any individual case, and it carries no implication about what anyone should or should not do.

Outside sport, the position varies by jurisdiction and changes over time, and this site does not state or imply anything about the lawfulness of bromantane in any country. Whether a substance may be sold, possessed or supplied depends on the national register and the national rules of the country in question, and those are the only places to check. Nothing on this page should be read as guidance for obtaining, handling, or using the compound, and none is offered.

• This page states no dose, no schedule, no route and no protocol of any kind.
• This page makes no performance claim and describes no effect in a person or an animal.
• This page gives no guidance on obtaining, handling, storing or administering the compound.
• The prohibited-list entry is reported as a document status, not as advice to any individual.
• Questions about national legal status belong to the national regulator of the country concerned.

This page is part of the Peptide Structure, Classification & Scientific Terminology guide.