Emtricitabine

The emtricitabine molecule - rotatable in 3 dimensions

Emtricitabine is a (deoxy)cytidine analogue. It has a fluoride group attached to carbon 5 of the pyrimidine ring of cytosine. It is called (5-fluoro-) thiacytidine because it has a sulphur atom in the deoxyribose section, at the same place that the normal DNA molecule forms phosphodiester bonds with the next nucleotide.
It may be described as 2'-deoxy-5-fluoro-3'-thiacytidine.

It is used as a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) because it acts as a selective inhibitor of HIV's reverse transcriptase enzyme, which converts viral RNA into DNA, to be incorporated into human T lymphocyte cells.

Emtricitabine in combination with other drugs can be used as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) treatments for HIV.

Sections of the Molecule:
Cytosine ... Deoxyribose ... Fluoride group ... Sulphur atom

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Other relevant molecules on this site

DNA
DNA bases
Tenofovir