Platensimycin and its relatives: A recent story in the struggle to develop new naturally derived antibiotics

Abstract

Covering: up to early 2010

The isolation, occurrence, structure elucidation, chemical properties, biosynthesis and chemical synthesis of the naturally occurring antibiotics platensimycin, platencin, isoplatensimycin, platensimycin A₁, and platensimycin B₁–B₃ are described. These antibiotics attract much attention due to their novel mode of action against multidrug resistant bacterial strains. Not only the naturally occurring molecules, but also their synthetic analogues, such as carbaplatensimycin, adamantaplatensimycins, oxazinidinyl platensimycin, platencin A₁, (−)-nor-platencin, homoplatensimide, and platensimide, are included in this review. Particular emphasis is placed on the diverse approaches for chemical synthesis and the recent efforts to produce potentially more effective derivatives by chemical modification or total synthesis.