Cefotaxime is given to patients to fight bacterial infections from both gram positive and gram negative bacteria.  Over time, antibiotics become increasingly less effective in treating bacterial infections due to emerging resistance in bacteria.  Cephalosporin molecules, upon their reaction with bacterial components, undergo a mechanism that results in the release of a small molecule from the C-3 position.  The design and development of dual-action antibiotics, in which the released small molecules have antibacterial properties of their own, is a possible pathway to more effective drugs.  This strategy has been employed previously with other antiseptic molecules and has been shown to increase the efficacy of antibiotics.  When thymol, a component of thyme, was mixed with �-lactam antibiotics, it was reported to enhance bacterial inhibition.  This research will replace an acetate located at the C-3 position of cefotaxime, with thymol so the molecule is embedded into the structure of the cephalosporin.  The resulting product is currently being tested on gram positive and gram negative bacteria using Kirby-Bauer Disk testing.  Other essential oils components found to have antiseptic properties are being explored as well.

Dual action cephalosporin: C-3 substitution of thymol on cefotaxime

245th National Meeting (2013)

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