Tetracyclines are a group of broad-spectrum antibiotics whose general usefulness has been reduced with the onset of bacterial resistance. Despite this, they remain the treatment of choice for some specific indications.
They are so named for their four (“tetra-”) hydrocarbon rings (“-cycl-”) derivation (“-ine”). More specifically, they are defined as "a subclass of polyketides having an octahydrotetracene-2-carboxamide skeleton". They are collecti...
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Tetracyclines are a group of broad-spectrum antibiotics whose general usefulness has been reduced with the onset of bacterial resistance. Despite this, they remain the treatment of choice for some specific indications.
They are so named for their four (“tetra-”) hydrocarbon rings (“-cycl-”) derivation (“-ine”). More specifically, they are defined as "a subclass of polyketides having an octahydrotetracene-2-carboxamide skeleton". They are collectively known as "derivatives of polycyclic naphthacene carboxamide".
The first member of the group to be discovered was Chlortetracycline (Aureomycin) in the late 1940s by Dr. Benjamin Duggar, a scientist employed by Lederle Laboratories who derived the substance from a golden-colored, fungus-like, soil-dwelling bacterium named Streptomyces aureofaciens. Oxytetracycline (Terramycin) was discovered shortly afterwards by AC Finlay et al., it came from a similar soil bacterium named Streptomyces rimosus. Robert Burns Woodward determined the...
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