Different roads to discovery; Prontosil (hence sulfa drugs) and penicillin (hence β-lactams)

2009/03/12 by Ronald Bentley · 1 citation
Medicine · Arts and Humanities · #Historical Medical Research and Treatments #Medical History and Innovations

paper · doi:10.1007/s10295-009-0553-8

openalex publication_date 2009/03/12 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

The important chemotherapeutic agents, Prontosil and pentenylpenicillin (penicillin F), were investigated initially by two men, Domagk and Fleming, who had been influenced by the horrendous wound infections of World War I. The very different pathways leading to their development and to that of the successor antibacterials (sulfa drugs, further penicillins, semi-synthetic penicillins), including the role played by patents, are discussed.

Citations

• On the Antibacterial Action of Cultures of a Penicillium, with Special Reference to Their Use in the Isolation of B. influenzae
• Ein Beitrag zur Chemotherapie der bakteriellen Infektionen
• THE TOTAL SYNTHESIS OF PENICILLIN V
• FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON PENICILLIN
• C.G. Paine and the earliest surviving clinical records of penicillin therapy
• The 50th anniversary of the discovery of 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA)

Cited by

• History of penicillin [wikipedia]