The New Penicillins

Abstract

Broad-Spectrum PenicillinsAmpicillinAmpicillin (alpha-aminobenzyl penicillin), the first of the semisynthetic penicillins to provide increased activity against gram-negative bacteria, was prepared by Doyle et al.¹⁵⁶ It is of interest not only for its own activity but also because it provided reason for optimism about the prospects of preparing other new penicillin-like compounds in the future with even wider spectrums and greater activity for organisms against which the penicillins now available are essentially ineffective. Stewart¹⁵⁷ recently summarized some of the laboratory and clinical reports.The in vitro susceptibility of gram-positive and gram-negative organisms to ampicillin has been extensively studied in several . . .