Friday, October 24, 2014

Penicillin V

Natural Chiral Products

Penicillin V contains three chiral centers that are circled in pink in the above photo. In reference to the stereo-chemistry that these chiral centers possess, number one is clockwise or "R," number two is also clockwise or "R," and finally number three is counterclockwise or "S" based on the level of priority that each center's multiple substituents have.

Use/Relevance

Phenoxymethylpenicillin, or Penicillin V is an antibiotic commonly prescribed by doctors for the treatment of mild to moderate bacterial infections. At some point in your life you may have been prescribed Penicillin for treatment of things such a persisting sore throat or a skin problem such as strange rash that won't go away. One use of the antibiotic that is very near and dear to my heart is its treatment of strep throat. The infection is caused by the bacteria, streptococcus and causes severe pharyngitis, more commonly known as a sore throat. In addition, Penicillin can also be taken for treatment of skin infections caused by the same bacteria. Some skin infections that are caused by streptococcus include impetigo and cellulitis. Based on my experience with having strep throat I am very grateful for the antibiotic Penicillin!

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenoxymethylpenicillin

http://www.dermnetnz.org/bacterial/streptococcal-disease.html

Jessica Mayhew


3 comments:

  1. Although penicillin can be used to treat strep throat, some people can be allergic to it. Even though it is a very powerful drug and often used in everyday practices, there are similar drugs that work in the same ways and can be substituted in cases where penicillin cant be used. These include amoxicillin (penicillin based) and cephalexin (non-penecillen based) which both work just as well for curing a bacterial infection (such as strep).

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  2. Its weird that you based you post on Penicillin and I based mine on Vancomycin, another tye of drug. They differ greatly in the number of chiral centers and the drug I researched in used if Penicillin isn't useful to a patient (if patient's body resists it)!

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  3. Jessica,

    I was particularly interested to see your post on Penicillin and read comments from both Brittany and Arial.

    As someone that is dangerously allergic to Penicillin, I was interested to learn from the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology that up to 10% of the general patient population suffers from a penicillin related hypersensitivity (URL: http://www.acaai.org/allergist/allergies/Types/drug-allergy/Pages/penicillin-allergy.aspx).



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