Question

How many chiral centers are in cortisone?

Answer 1

There are 6 chiral centres in cortisone.

Explanation:

The structure of cortisone is

I have circled the six chiral centres.

For easy reference, here is the numbering of the carbon atoms in the basic ring structure: cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene.

Following the numbers, we find the following chiral centres:

• C-8 (attached groups are C-7, C-9, C-14, and H)
• C-9 (attached groups are C-8, C-10, C-11, and H)
• C-10 (attached groups are C-1, C-5, C-9, and CH₃)
• C-13 (attached groups are C-12, C-14, C-17, and CH₃)
• C-14 (attached groups are C-8, C-13, C-15, and H)
• C-17 (attached groups are C-13, C-16, OH, and COCH₂OH)