[EricTAMUCC-BSN]

Does anyone know why cefepime stinks? It almost smells like bacteria. What causes it to stink like that?

Any help would be appreciated.

[carolinapooh]

I think it has something to do with the chemical structure (I haven't taken Organic in a while)...I know that both the penicillins and the cephalosporins – which Cefepime belongs to – are all beta-lactam ring structures (they have a six-member ring with a sulfur attached to the a four-member ring with a nitrogen and a double-bonded oxygen).

I used to know right off, but I'm getting a bit rusty. There's a sulfur in the six-member ring. I think that's the culprit.

Edited to add - that's it. The sulfur-containing aromatic (an aromatic organic compound is a 6-member ring) is actually a methyl thioester. Thioesters stink - the culprit is the sulfur combined with the specific chemical structure.

[EricTAMUCC-BSN]

Thanks Carolina

-Eric.