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Semisynthetic Penicillins

1973; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s1054-3589(08)60458-5

1557-8925

G. N. Rolinson, R. Sutherland,

Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

Semisynthetic penicillins have been prepared by chemical modification of the p-amino group of p-aminobenzylpenicillin. Semisynthetic penicillins can be grouped into three classes on the basis of their antibacterial spectra. Thus, penicillins have a spectrum of activity essentially similar to that of penicillin V and are active primarily against gram-positive cocci, and are often referred to as narrow-spectrum penicillins. These compounds have been described as “acid-stable penicillins” because of their similarity to penicillin V, but this term is no longer favored because it has become obvious that acid stability is a property shared by many other penicillins with very different biological activities. The semisynthetic penicillins that are relatively stable to staphylococcal penicillinase are referred to as the penicillinase-stable penicillins, and this group includes all the compounds in clinical use active against penicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus. The third group of penicillins is the broad-spectrum penicillins, so called because their antibacterial spectra encompass gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.