Antibiotics nomenclature

Apropos nomenclature antibiotics are produced by microorganisms (fungi, bacteria) and are directed against life at any phylogenetic level (prokaryotes, eukaryotes). Chemotherapeutic agents originate from chemical synthesis. This distinction has been lost in current usage. 

The nomenclature used in this section differs from the strictly systematic rules used by Chemical Abstracts to index fused-ring azetidinones, but conforms more to that commonly found in the literature describing the /3-lactam antibiotics. A description of this naming system is given in the introduction (Section 5.12.1). Virtually all of the compounds discussed in this section contain a carboxyl group adjacent to the /3-lactam ring and conform to general structure (49). 

Sugar amino acids (Saa) 1 are carbohydrate scaffolds that carry an amino and a carboxy function.12 Due to their structural and functional diversity, no detailed nomenclature for this class of amino acids has yet been established. Saa are found in nature as subunits of oligosaccharides (neuraminic acid 1) in cell walls of bacteria (muraminic acid 2) and in some antibiotics 3-6 (Scheme l). 2-8 ... 

As the number of known organic molecules increased, a systematic approach to nomenclature was required. To minimize confusion in communicating chemical information, a name should be consistent with other systems in use and should clearly define the structure of a molecule. Specialists in organic chemistry7 have developed nomenclatures that are logical for their disciplines, thus devising systems for naming alcohols, antibiotics, carboxylic acids, etc. 

For this review another classification is used. As the majority of peptide antibiotics are of unknown structure and cannot therefore be classified chemically, they are grouped according to the organism which produces them. At the beginning of every section, the peptide antibiotics are listed in a table which gives the known characteristics and the literature. Only the clinically useful members are described in detail. Furthermore, only those peptide antibiotics which consist mainly of amino acids in peptide linkages are fully considered. The important actinomycins , penicillins and cephalosporins, which have been reviewed several times in recent years, are not included here. Amino acids and amino acid residue sequences are denoted in accordance with the suggestions of the committee on nomenclature which reported at the Fifth European Peptide Symposium . When necessaiy the direction of the —CO NH— bond is indicated by an arrow (— )., ... 

---