A synthetic opioid pain medication that is 50-100 times more potent than morphine, used for severe pain management in medical settings. It has become a major concern in the opioid crisis due to its high overdose potential.
Named by Belgian chemist Paul Janssen who first synthesized it in 1958, combining 'phenyl' and 'piperidine' chemical groups with the suffix '-anil.' The name reflects its chemical structure rather than any natural origin.
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