4. D.6.1: historical development of
penicillin
In 1928, Alexander Fleming left an open
Petri dish containing a culture of
Staphylococcus aureus in the lab while on
holiday.
Upon return, he noticed a mould that had
grown and inhibited the growth of the
bacterium. He deduced that the mould
(Penicillium notatum) produced a
compound (penicillin) that inhibits the
growth of bacteria.
He published his results, but never
pursued them further.
6. Historical Development cont.
Florey and Chain used penicillin on a
policeman who was dying of septicaemia
in 1941, and recorded a dramatic
improvement in his condition (before he
died due to lack of a supply of penicillin)
They discovered penicillin's therapeutic
action and its chemical composition, and
overcame problems associated with
isolating and purifying penicillin
7. Historical development cont.
Florey went on to research large scale
production of penicillin and efficient
extraction of the active ingredient.
In America, Jasper Kane and other Pfizer
scientists found that by growing strains of
penicillin mould in large tanks containing
corn-steep liquor they could produce in
bulk.
In the 1950s the structure of penicillin
was determined, enabling different types
to be synthesized without recourse to
moulds.
8. Historical Development Cont.
Moyer, Coghill and Raper at
the NRRL developed methods for
industrialized penicillin production
and isolated higher-yielding strains
of the Penicillium fungus.
