Talk:Synephrine

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There has been some confusion surrounding synephrine and phenylephrine (a.k.a. neo-synephrine). While virtually identical in chemical makeup (C₉H₁₃NO₂) the hydroxyl group in phenylephrine is located on the number three carbon of the benzene ring, whereas in synephrine the hydroxyl group is located on the number four carbon. This small difference manifests changes in the stereochemistry that may alter the biological activity of the two compounds. Therefore, they should not be seen as equivalents.

Can someone explain what that means in English and not chemistry jargon? I understand that it's technical chemistry terminology but how does synephrines effects differ from phenylephrine? --Arm

[edit] Changes in Stereochemistry

How does moving the hydroxy from 3 to 4 effect the stereochemistry of the compound? Neither move affects the chirality of the compound.

-- Stereochemistry is more than just chirality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereochemistry