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β-Lactam Antibiotics: Structure-Activity Relationships

1983; Springer Science+Business Media; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-642-68901-7_3

1865-0325

John R. E. Hoover,

Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

The enormous clinical and commercial importance of the β-lactam antibiotics has sustained a worldwide research effort directed at examining the effects of structural modifications on their biological properties for well over three decades (Moyer and Coghill 1946). This effort has been bolstered by the propensity of these chemical systems to exhibit improved biological activities with appropriate structural changes. As a consequence the β-lactams now rank with the most extensively varied and most thoroughly studied substances in the field of medicinal chemistry. Each position of the penicillin and cephalosporin rings has undergone alterations, with the exception of the 4(5)-bridgehead nitrogen atom, and although the clavulanic acids, penems, carbapenems, and monobactams have been known for 5 years or less, a large proportion of the conceivable modifications of these structures have been disclosed in publications and patents.