How many chiral centres are in the penicillin molecule?

1 Answer
anor277
Feb 6, 2017

If I exclude the #R# group, I count #7#.........

Explanation:

![https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin](useruploads.socratic.org)

Starting from the amide #NH#, and going clockwise, I count #NH^1#, #""^1HNCH^2#, #H^3CS#, #CH_3^4#, #CH_3^5# (the methyls are diastereotopic), #NCH^6#, #OH^7#. And thus there are #7#. Do you agree?

If I could label the diagram I would, but I have not got the wherewithal at the moment.

Related questions
See all questions in Equivalent Hydrogens
Impact of this question
10092 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License