Penicillin
Breakthrough in Medicine
Penicillium
Penicillin is the oldest and one of the
most commonly used groups of
antibiotics at present. They are
derived from the mold/fungi
Penicillium. Penicillin can be divided
into two groups, namely natural and
semisynthetic penicillins. Natural
penicillins are produced from the
fermentation of the fungus
Penicillium chrysogenum. The
semisynthetic penicillins, on the
other hand, are prepared from (+)-6aminopenicillanic acid.
History
Discovery
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Starting in the late 19th century there
had been reports of the antibacterial
properties of Penicillium mould, but
scientists were unable to discern
what process was causing the
e ect.Scottish physician Alexander
Fleming at St Mary's Hospital in
London (now part of Imperial
College) was the rst to show that
Penicillium rubens had antibacterial
properties.
History
Medical application
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The rst successful use of pure penicillin was
when Fleming treated Harry Lambert of fatal
infection of the nervous system (streptococcal
meningitis) in 1942. By that time the Oxford
team could produce only small amount. Florey
willingly gave the only available sample to
Fleming. Lambert showed improvement from
the very next day of the treatment, and was
completely cured within a week.Fleming
published his clinical trial in The Lancet in
1943. Following the medical breakthrough the
British War Cabinet set up the Penicillin
Committee on 5 April 1943 that led to projects
for mass production.
History
Mass production
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P zer scientist Jasper H. Kane
suggested using a deep-tank
fermentation method for producing
large quantities of pharmaceuticalgrade penicillin. Large-scale production
resulted from the development of a
deep-tank fermentation plant by
chemical engineer Margaret Hutchinson
Rousseau.As a direct result of the war
and the War Production Board, by June
1945, over 646 billion units per year
were being produced.
History
Mass production
Penicillin was being mass-produced in 1944.
History
Structure determination and total synthesis
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The chemical structure of penicillin
was rst proposed by Edward
Abraham in 1942 and was later
con rmed in 1945 using X-ray
crystallography by Dorothy Crowfoot
Hodgkin, who was also working at
Oxford. She later in 1964 received the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry for this and
other structure determinations.
History
Structure determination and total synthesis
Dorothy Hodgkin's model of penicillin's structure.
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