According to official statistics superbugs that are resistant to traditional methods of antibiotic therapy, are the cause of death of about 100,000 people around the world. And in order to resist the tiny killers you need a special superactivity. Only here the problem lies not only in the complexity of their manufacture, but in the fact that the production of such drugs is accompanied by the formation of highly toxic waste. However, a group of scientists recently found a simple method for the synthesis of antibiotics without forming dangerous byproducts.
According to the publication EurekAlert, scientists from the University of Colorado have created a new catalyst that helps in the synthesis of dipeptides. Dipeptide antibiotics are of natural origin, which in some tests has shown itself effective against resistant to the traditional antibiotics of strains of Staphylococcus aureus. The main difficulty in the production of dipeptides is that their complex structure does not allow to produce them on an industrial scale.
“We revised the Outlook on the fundamental chemical properties of these molecules and how they interact with the superbugs. Before, no one analyzed these substances in the modern context.” said the study’s lead author, Maciej Walczak.
Researchers have developed a new catalyst for the acceleration of reactions of synthesis of dipeptides that led to the emergence of how to create two effective antibiotics: microlactin R1 and cicilline I.
“The results exceeded our expectations. This is a very clean and efficient reaction. The only waste is water and this fact can be very important, as the technology scalable.”
A new method of chemical synthesis is just the starting point of a larger program. Scientists plan to use these technologies as a platform for selecting and forming parts of the molecule other dipeptides with the aim of optimizing their properties and applications in combating other superbugs.
Let’s hope that the new method will help to fight with bacteria and get new antibiotics. But the latest news can always be found on our news channel.