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.

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