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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Antibiotic Dereplication Using the Antibiotic Resistance Platform
Published on: October 17, 2019
Development of the semi-synthetic penicillins and cephalosporins
1Department of Medical Microbiology, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK. yks86@dial.pipex.com
Abstract:
Semi-synthetic penicillins and cephalosporins both derive from their respective chemical nuclei, 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) and 7-aminocephalosporanic acid (7-ACA). Work leading to their isolation was being carried out in parallel, but following very different pathways, during the last half of the 1950s. The development of 6-APA was reviewed recently in this journal, and in the present article I take a closer look at early work on 'penicillin amidase' and revisit the steps that led to 7-ACA.
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