Penicillin
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Penicillin
Chemical formula and IUPAC Name
The chemical formula of penicillin is C₁₆H₂₈N₂0₋₄0. The molecular formula is a composition name of the antibiotic’s core chemical structure. It includes beta-lactam and thiazoline ring systems, linked in tandem, whereas the side chain has amino acid phenylacetamido group. The IUPAC name designated to penicillin is (2S,5R,6R)-3,3-dimethyl-7-oxo-6 -(2-phenylacetamido)-4-thio-1-azabicyclo [3,2,0] heptane-2-carboxylic acid. The systemic name is the IUPAC name, which describes the molecular composition of the molecule.
Chemical and Physical Properties
Penicillin, with its pale yellow crystalline discoveries, has a touch of bitterness when tasted. It is easily soluble in water and hardly in ether and chloroform, hence two non-polar solvents. Penicillin is toast when exposed to heat, humidity, and acidic environments, factors that fasten the spoilage process. Unlike the rest, its molecular weight is low, and it is considered a very weak acid, which has the free carboxylic acid group.
Method of Preparation
When industrial penicillin is made, it is in a reactor with Penicillium chrysogenum fungi. After that, the fungus enters the fermentation process step in second place. Sherstneva (2020) emphasizes that Penicillium chrysogenum is plastic grown in gigantic tanks that are either oxygen-confirmative or aerated via penicillin fermentation. However, the production process was fed-batch. Being fed-batch is the name of the process. In the fermentation process, the broth, which produces penicillin, is removed, while it is purified and concentrated to get just pure penicillin, which is consumed for manufacturing in large quantities of medicines of antagonistic function. The penicillin is isolated, purified, and prepared from fermentation into several forms standardized into tablets, oral capsules, or injectable solutions.
Use(s): how our society uses or produces this chemical
Penicillin is among the most common and widely used drugs for human beings to cure diseases that result from bacteria. It is one of the antibiotics that fight gram-existing bacteria akin to Staphylococcus, Streptococcus species, and some gram-negative bacteria. The main method of production of penicillin is fermentation. It decreases airway inflammation (as in respiratory tract infections), treats skin infections, and prevents the development of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
Health and Environmental Effects
Those likely to escape the bacterial infection suffer from symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. Antibiotics not only may worsen the existing symptoms but can also lead to the disappearance of the disease. However, the drawbacks are also evident– for example, muscle pain, shortness of breath, hallucinations, and increased fungi related to the overgrowth of the inner layer of the body and high blood pressure (Yip & Gerriets, 2022). Unlike patients who have had injections, which report inflammation at the injection site if intramuscular or subcutaneous routes performed the injection, patients treated with inhaled dry powders experience fewer problems with inflammation. Regarding environmental issues, there is a possibility that penicillin and its metabolites shall be released to the environment via effluent from pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and hospitals; this could potentially give rise to antibiotic resistance in environmental bacteria and threaten aquatic life.
In conclusion, penicillin is used widely to treat severe bacterial infections. Yet, this technology’s environmental vulnerability emphasizes the necessity for ethical and intelligent production and usage of samples to counteract its negative impact on health and ecology.
References
Cobos-Puc, L., Rodríguez-Herrera, R., Cano-Cabrera, J. C., Aguayo-Morales, H., Silva-Belmares, S. Y., Gallegos, A. C. F., & Hernández, J. L. M. (2020). Classical and new pharmaceutical uses of bacterial penicillin G acylase. Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 21(4), 287–297. https://doi.org/10.2174/1389201020666191111151642
Iskandar, K., Murugaiyan, J., Hammoudi Halat, D., Hage, S. E., Chibabhai, V., Adukkadukkam, S., Roques, C., Molinier, L., Salameh, P., & Van Dongen, M. (2022). Antibiotic discovery and resistance: The chase and the race. Antibiotics, 11(2), 182. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11020182
Sherstneva, E. V. (2020). The organization of industrial production of penicillin in the USSR]. Problemy Sotsial’noi Gigieny, Zdravookhraneniia I Istorii Meditsiny, 28(2), 320–325. https://doi.org/10.32687/0869-866X-2020-28-2-320-325
Yip, D. W., & Gerriets, V. (2022, May 19). Penicillin. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554560/