An unusual aminoglycoside antibiotic, spectinomycin is produced by fermentation of Streptomyces
spectabil is and differs substantially in its clinical properties from the others. The diaminoinositol unit
(spectinamine) contains two mono-N-methyl groups, and the hydroxyl between them has a stereochemistry
opposite to that in streptomycin. The glycosidically attached sugar also is unusual in that it contains three
consecutive carbonyl groups, either overt or masked, and is fused by two adjacent linkages to spectinamine
to produce an unusual, fused, three-ring structure.
