Synthesis of lactams

Synthesis of lactams 

 

Synthesis of alpha-lactams

(CC) Image: David E. Volk
A general purpose alpha-lactam synthesis

The cyclization reaction of an -haloamide precuror in the presence of sodium hydride and 15-crown-5 ether at room temperature in dichloromethane (CH₂Cl₂) is a high-yielding, general route to -lactam (aziridinone) products. The hydrogen gas and sodium halide by-products are readily removed.^[1]

Antibiotics 

 

(CC) Image: David E. Volk
Base structure of all cephalosporins.

The -lactam forms the center structure of many antibiotic drugs, such as the cephalosporins and the penicillins, as shown above. In the penicillins, the non-lactam ring is one atom smaller compared to the cephalosporins. The activity of cephalosporins, penicillins, and some other antibiotics are due to the presence of the beta-lactam, which binds irreversibly, via acylation, to penicillin-binding proteins, thereby inhibiting the peptidogycan layer of bacterial cell wall synthesis. Cephalosporins and penicillins are often made semi-synthetically, using a core structure obtained from a natural organism, such as a fungus, due to the difficulty and expense of synthesizing these lactams.
Beta-lactams are four-membered cyclic amides, best known for the penicillins based on a bicyclo-thiazolidine, as well as the cephalosporins based on a bicyclo-thiazine, and including monocyclic monobactams. The beta-lactamases hydrolyze the beta lactam ring, accounting for beta-lactam resistance of infective bacteria