Chemistry Bacterial Infection

Question: Discuss about the Chemistryfor Bacterial Infection. Answer: Introduction In the history of chemistry, there are several accidental breakthroughs, which have been one of the revolutionary in the world of science. Penicillin Gis one such accidental discovery, made by Alexander Fleming, which is considered to be one of the most significant discoveries in the field of medicinal chemistry. The penicillin is one of the major groups of antibiotics, which is considered to be the first discovered group. The penicillin is the first medication that is being used for the treatment against a bacterial infection that is caused by staphylococci. The discovery of the penicillin is considered to be one of the major landmarks in the world of chemistry and also in the physiology. It was discovered in the year 1928 by Dr. Alexander Fleming in an accidental incident, when he was examining a colony of Staphylococcus. The mould that is obtained from the colony is then examined carefully and it was found that it prevented the growth staphylococci (Clarke, 2015). This mould substance is then identified to be penicillin that has the power to inhibit the growth of bacteria, by disrupting the cell wall. The practical use of this penicillin was done on March 1942, and it provided positive result upon a patient suffering from bacterial infectious disease. Fleming won the Nobel Prize in the Physiology in 1945 for his revolutionary discovery (Cheng et al. 2016). In this report the scientific properties of penicillin G is described along with the mode of action. The advantage and the drawbacks of the penicillin is also mentioned and the ways it is applied in the medical world. Chemical Properties of Penicillin G The compound penicillin G or benzyl penicillin is one of the widely used antibiotics used for the treatment of bacterial infection diseases like pneumonia, syphilis, diphtheria and many more. The molecular weight of penicillin g is 334.39 g/mol with zero formal charge. The chemical formulae of the compound is C16H17N2NaO4S and it has many other alternative names like sodium salt, 3,3-dimelthy-7-oxo-6-(2-phenyl-acetamido)-4-thia-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]heptane-2-carboxylic acid. The physical appreance of the compound is like a crystalline yellowish white powder. The melting point of the compound is at 209 to 212 degree Celsius and the density is considered to be 1.41 gm/cc. The solubility of the compound is at 5-10 g/100ml at 25 degree Celsius. In alcohol the solubility of the compound is at 3.3 mg/ml of alcohol. The penicillin-G is considered to be neutral in nature with the pH of 6.0-7.5 (Flynn, 2013). Figure 1: Chemical Structure of Penicillin G Source: (Flynn, 2013) The chemical nature of the compound it has the ability to suitable the bacteria and can interfere in the process of bacterial cell wall synthesis process. The chemical structure of the compound allows to act as the inhibitor and bind in the active site of the enzymes that are needed for the synthesis of the bacterial cell wall. The cell wall of the gram positive bacteria is made up of a chemical compound called the peptidoglycan. The cross linkages within the peptidoglycan layer will help to provide stability to the bacterial cell wall. However, the action of penicillin-G breaks this linkage between the cell wall and thereby the bacterial cell cannot withstand the osmotic pressure. The chemical structure of penicillin-G allows the compound to easily flow through the fluid of the body (Walsh, 2013). Advantage and Drawbacks of Penicillin-G The discovery of penicillin is one the revolutionary discovery in the world of medicinal chemistry that has helped to deal with all the major forms bacterial infection. It is considered to be one of the remarkable breakthroughs during the time of its discovery as several people each year had to die because of bacterial infection. Ganesan et al. (2015), stated that in spite of the fact that in the modern days the penicillin is not used as antibiotic due to the introduction of various other advanced forms of drugs, the discovery of antibiotic set the foundation for the all other advanced forms of antibiotics that is used in the modern days. Moreover, without the discovery of antibiotics it is not possible for to imply the recent critical treatment like the organ transplantation. The penicillin-G also has the capability to attack a narrow group of bacteria as it affects only the gram positive kind of bacteria. However, this limited capability is also considered to be one of the major dr awbacks of this discovery. Moreover, with time the streptococcus bacteria have evolved the capability to resist the application of the chemical drugs. It is also not effective for viral infection diseases. The use of penicillin-G is not considered to be safe for the individual having chronic kidney disease and asthma. The Diarrhea is one of the most common side-effects that are associated with the use of penicillin-G. Over use of penicillin in case of pregnant women can result in complexity during the time of delivery and it may be impossible to give oral birth (Sitnikov et al. 2015). The penicillin also can cause harm the various useful bacteria that is help in the digestion process of human. Hence, overuse of penicillin can cause harm in the digestion process of human. Medical use of Penicillin-G The use of penicillin-G is one of the widely used medications for various forms of bacterial infection. According to Rimawi et al. (2013) the use of Penicillin-G is one the effective ways that help in the diagnosis of skin allergy. The penicillin skin testing can be done with the help of the technique is oral amoxicillin challenge. The clinical significance of IgE can also be determined with the help of penicillin. The potassium that is present within the structure of penicillin can be used as the technique to deal with the bacterial infection that cause blockage in the heart and joint pains. The lung infection can also be cured with the use of penicillin-G. However, there are many patients, who are allergic to the use of penicillin-G and it is thus important to diagnose the clinical condition of a patient before prescribing this medicine to any patient. Conclusion The discovery of the penicillin is one of the important landmarks in the domain of medicinal chemistry. This discovery formed the base for the wide range of antibiotics that were discovered later. The major drawbacks of penicillin-G are its capability to destroy a very small range of bacteria. Moreover, overuse of this medicine can also disrupt the digestion process. Nevertheless, the discovery of Alexander Fleming has assisted in the development of many modern forms of treatments. Reference Cheng, M. P., Ren, P., Cheng, A. P., Lee, T. C. (2016). Back to the Future: Penicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.The American journal of medicine. Clarke, H. T. (Ed.). (2015).Chemistry of Penicillin. Princeton University Press. Flynn, E. H. (Ed.). (2013).Cephalosporins and penicillins: chemistry and biology. Elsevier. Ganesan, A., Mesner, O., Okulicz, J.F., O'Bryan, T., Deiss, R.G., Lalani, T., Whitman, T.J., Weintrob, A.C., Macalino, G., Agan, B.K. and Banks, S., 2015. A single dose of benzathine penicillin G is as effective as multiple doses of benzathine penicillin G for the treatment of HIV-infected persons with early syphilis.Clinical Infectious Diseases,60(4), pp.653-660. Rimawi, R. H., Gooch, M., Ashraf, M. S., Cook, P. P., Gebregziabher, M., Siraj, D. S., Kabchi, B. (2013). 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