How many chiral centers are in testosterone?

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Answer 1 · 2015-12-17T02:58:52

There are six chiral centres in testosterone.

The structural formula of testosterone is

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There are no internal mirror planes, so every carbon atom is different.

Here is how the carbon atoms are numbered.

Using these numbers, the chiral carbon atoms in testosterone are #8, 9, 10, 13, 14#, and #17#.

The jaw-breaking IUPAC name gives the configuration at each of these centres:

(#8R,9S,10R,13S,14S,17S#)- 17-hydroxy-10,13-dimethyl- 1,2,6,7,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17- dodecahydrocyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-one.