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What is "beta-lactam"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
beta-lactam

Lactam \Lac"tam\, n. [Lactone + amido.] (Chem.) One of a series of anhydrides of an amido type, analogous to the lactones, as oxindol; a cyclic amide. beta-lactam or [beta]-lactam,

  1. a lactam in which the amide bond is contained within a four-membered ring, which includes the amide nitrogen and the carbonyl carbon.

  2. an antibiotic containing a beta-lactam, such as a penicillin, cephalosporin, or carbapenem; also called a beta-lactam antibiotic. [informal, laboratory slang]

Wiktionary
beta-lactam

n. (context organic chemistry English) A lactam having a four-membered ring structure; a structural element of many antibiotics such as penicillin.

Wikipedia
Beta-lactam

A β-lactam (beta-lactam) ring is a four-membered lactam. (A lactam is a cyclic amide). It is named as such because the nitrogen atom is attached to the β-carbon atom relative to the carbonyl. The simplest β-lactam possible is 2-azetidinone.

Usage examples of "beta-lactam".

Today there are more than fifty different penicillins and seventy-five cephalosporins, all of which use beta-lactam rings in one form or another.

Beta-lactam is a four-membered cyclic amide ring, a molecular ring which bears a fatal resemblance to the chemical mechanisms a bacterium uses to build its cell wall.