Laboratory medicine spectrum

In analyzing the spectrum of a substance, one occasionally finds a band or a shoulder that is very difficult to interpret. This band may, upon further consideration, be found to be spurious, that is, it does not belong to the sample under analysis, but is caused by an instrumental effect, the method of handling the sample, or some unexpected phenomenon. For example, it has been pointed out (Inchiosa, 1965) that certain disposable syringes used in clinical and laboratory medicine yielded water-soluble extractives. One of these substances was identified as 2-(methylthio)ben-zothiazole, which has fungistatic and insecticidal activity. Such extractives or their reaction products could show up in the infrared spectrum during a laboratory procedure. 

The first fully automated instrument for chemical analysis (the Technicon Auto Analyzer ) appeared on the market in 1957. This instrument was designed to fulfill the needs of clinical laboratories, where blood and urine samples are routinely analyzed for a dozen or more chemical species. The number of such analyses demanded by modern medicine is enormous, so it is necessary to keep their cost at a reasonable level. These two considerations motivated the development of analytical. systems that perform several analyses simultaneously with a minimum input of human labor. The use of automatic instruments has spread from clinical laboratories to laboratories for the control of industrial processes and the routine determination of a wide spectrum of species in air, water, soils, and pharmaceutical and... 

Chloramphenicol, which is produced by Streptomyces venezuelae, was the first antibiotic with a broad antibacterial spectrum to be introduced into medicine. It was isolated in the Parke Davis Research Laboratories and characterized as D(-)threo-2-dichloracetamido-i-/>-nitrophenyl-i,3-propane-diol (XXVII). It was synthesized by several routes . 

Soon after the introduction of chloramphenicol into medicine a second antibiotic with a broad antibacterial spectrum was discovered in the Lederle Laboratories . This substance was produced by Streptomyces aureofaciens and was named aureomycin. Later, a similar substance, terramycin, was isolated at Chas. Pfizer Inc. from the culture fluid of Streptcrmyces rimosus . The complete structure of terramycin was elucidated in 1953 and that of aureomycin a year later. 

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