How many chiral centers are in morphine?

1 Answer
Ernest Z.
Jun 5, 2015

There are five chiral centres in morphine.

Explanation:

The systematic name of morphine is (#1S,5R,13R,14S,17R#)-4-methyl-12-oxa-4-azapentacyclo[#9.6.1.0^(1,13).0^(5,17).0^(7,18)#]octadeca-7(18),8,10,15-tetraene-10,14-diol.

Now you know why we just call it morphine!

Its structure is

www2.chemistry.msu.edu

The five atoms with the wedges and dashes are the chiral centres:

  • #"C-5"#, the carbon joined to the epoxide
  • #"C-6"#, the carbon attached to the #"OH"# group
  • #"C-9"#, the carbon attached to #"N"#
  • #"C-13"#, the carbon at the bridgehead of four different rings
  • #"C-14"#, the carbon at the bridgehead of two rings
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