Antibiotics, Pharmaceutical Analysis of

Abstract

An antibiotic is a chemical substance, produced by microorganisms (or recently, synthetic routes) which has the capacity to inhibit the growth of other microorganisms/bacterial agents. The terminology for antibiotics stems from the Latin term of antibiosis and the noun antibiotic was coined by Professor Waksman in 1942. Considered as a single therapeutic class, antibiotics are one of the most diverse groups of medicinal agents. They can be grouped into several subclasses depending on their source, structure and activity. These are the cephalosporins, penicillins, quinolones, streptomyces and tetracycline. In addition to these agents, the sulfonamides and other miscellaneous compounds are also included owing to their antibacterial activity.