What molecule am I?
Beclomethasone dipropionate (aka beclometasone) is a venerable steroidal drug with a variety of uses. It was first described in a 1964 Belgian patent to the Glaxo Group (Greenford, UK; now part of GSK) titled “Topically active anti-inflammatory 17-mono- and 17,21-diesters of betamethasone1 and its 9-chloro-analogs, compositions and use thereof”. Three years later, an equivalent patent was issued as US 3,312,590.
Beclomethasone dipropionate was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1976 as a nasal spray for treating asthma. Since then, FDA approved it in inhalers for long-term asthma treatment (2000) and as a nasal spray for seasonal allergic rhinitis (2012).
Versatile beclomethasone dipropionate is used in creams to treat skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, and allergies. It is also available in topical and tablet forms for treating ulcerative colitis.
1. CAS Reg. No. 378-44-9.
Beclomethasone dipropionate hazard information*
| Hazard class** | GHS code and hazard statement | |
|---|---|---|
| Skin sensitization, category 1 | H317—May cause an allergic skin reaction |  |
| Reproductive toxicity, category 1B | H360—May damage fertility or the unborn child |  |
| Specific target organ toxicity, repeated exposure (adrenal gland, immune system, bone), category 2 | H373—May cause damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure | |
| Long-term (chronic) aquatic hazard, category 4 | H413—May cause long-lasting harmful effects to aquatic life | |
*Compilation of multiple safety data sheets. The greatest reported hazard is shown for each hazard class.
**Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. Explanation of pictograms.
Molecules from the Journals
Cannabichromene1 (CBC) is one of hundreds of cannabinoids found in plants of the Cannabis genus. In 1966, U. Claussen, F. von Spulak, and F. Korte* at the University of Bonn (Germany) reported its isolation and identification as the first cannabinoid to contain the chromene structure.
As a nonpsychoactive cannabinoid, CBC is well known as an analgesic component of Cannabis; but not until last month was its human metabolism understood. David Sarlah, Aditi Das, and collaborators at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Georgia Tech (Atlanta), and the University of California, San Francisco, elucidated the mechanism by which liver cytochrome P450 enzymes react with CBC to produce two major metabolites, 8′-hydroxy-CBC and 6′,7′-epoxy-CBC. The authors also identified the specific P450 that most efficiently produces these metabolites.
See also the 2023 Molecules from the Journals entry for CBC.
Ferberite2 is a mineral that was discovered in Spain in 1963 and named after German mineralogist Moritz Rudolph Ferber. It is composed of iron(II) tungstate3 (FeWO4).
In March, Sinhué López-Moreno, Daniel Errandonea, and colleagues at the San Luis Potosí Institute of Scientific Research and Technology (Mexico), the University of Valencia (Spain), and other Spanish institutions reported the electronic, vibrational, and structural properties of ferberite at pressures as high as 20 GPa. Among their findings: The wolframite structure of FeWO4 did not change over the pressure range studied; this result is typical of wolframite compounds of the form MWO4, in which M is a metal. The authors also found that their Raman spectra of FeWO4 in ferberite agreed with previous measurements of synthetic FeWO4 and were similar to the spectra of the wolframite MgWO44.
1. CAS Reg. No. 20675-51-8.
2. CAS Reg. No. 13871-23-3.
3. CAS Reg. No. 13870-24-1.
4. CAS Reg. No. 13573-11-0.
Molecules from the Journals
MOTW briefly describes noteworthy molecules that appeared in recent ACS journal articles. See this week's
edition below.
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Beclomethasone dipropionate
fast facts
| CAS Reg. No. | 5534-09-8 |
| SciFindern name | Pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione, 9-chloro-11-hydroxy-16-methyl-17,21-bis(1-oxopropoxy)-, (11β,16β)- |
| Empirical formula | C28H37ClO7 |
| Molar mass | 521.04 g/mol |
| Appearance | White to off-white crystalline powder |
| Melting point | 117–120 °C |
| Water solubility | 0.16 mg/L |
Learn more about this molecule from CAS, the most authoritative and comprehensive source for chemical information.
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