Penicillin

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(CC) Image: David E. Volk
The core structure of penicillin

Penicillin refers to a class of antibiotic drugs that have a common -lactam core structure. Characteristics of penicillins, especially bioavailability, can vary substantially depending upon the R- group appended onto the core structure. Some penicillin drugs are actually prodrugs that only become active after some metabolitic transformation within a patient. Penicillin drug may cause severe, even fatal, allergic responses in some patients. Some bacteria have developed resistance to penicillin through the acquisition of -lactamases, enzymes which degrade the -lactam structures of the penicillin drugs.

Although the discovery of penicillin is often attributed to Flemming, organisms which produce them have been used since ancient times to treat infections. Penicillins are typically produced by fungi.

For more information about specific penicillin drugs, see these pages: