β-lactam
Sign in to savethumb|120px|right|2-Azetidinone, the simplest β-lactam A β-lactam ('''beta-lactam') ring is a four-membered lactam. A lactam is a cyclic amide, and beta''-lactams are named so because the nitrogen atom is attached to the β-carbon atom relative to the carbonyl. The simplest β-lactam possible is 2-azetidinone. β-lactams are significant structural units of medicines as manifested in many β-lactam antibiotics. Up to 1970, most β-lactam research was concerned with the penicillin and cephalosporin groups, but since then, a wide variety of structures have been described.
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Clinical significance
- Synthesis
- Reactions
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|120px|right|2-Azetidinone, the simplest β-lactam A β-lactam ('''beta-lactam') ring is a four-membered lactam. A lactam is a cyclic amide, and beta''-lactams are named so because the nitrogen atom is attached to the β-carbon atom relative to the carbonyl. The simplest β-lactam possible is 2-azetidinone. β-lactams are significant structural units of medicines as manifested in many β-lactam antibiotics. Up to 1970, most β-lactam research was concerned with the penicillin and cephalosporin groups, but since then, a wide variety of structures have been described.
==Clinical significance==