Beta-lactam
Family of chemical compounds / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the chemical compound. For the related antibiotics, see β-Lactam antibiotic.
A beta-lactam (β-lactam) ring is a four-membered lactam.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3][4]