What antimicrobial can be readily synthesized in a school laboratory for a project on antimicrobial resistance? [closed]








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I am currently a student studying at a high school hoping to do a project on antimicrobial compound synthesis to use in investigating antimicrobial resistance in *E. coli* strains. I am hoping to synthesize an antimicrobial to use in *in vitro* testing.


I have looked at sulfonamides, but the involvement of benzene in some of the procedures (for example, in the synthesis step of 3-amino-5-methylisoxazole of sulfamethoxazole), is banned because of health and safety regulations in high school labs.


Is there an alternative for a compound that could be synthesized with high school lab chemicals under guidance with maybe one or two external orders of specific compounds?




There are many [common antimicrobials](https://academic.oup.com/pch/article/11/3/169/4560373) in use, and one that *might* be comparatively easy to sythesize would be a [quaternary ammonium compound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_ammonium_cation). For example, [this patent](https://patents.google.com/patent/EP0791575A1/en) claims the "reaction is carried out in water."


That said, the reactants and the resulting antibacterial might have intrinsic environmental and health hazards.


BTW, why not investigate some traditional antimicrobial compounds used for food preservation, such as sodium chloride, calcium chloride, acetic acid, or various sugars? No synthesis is needed. And *must* you use *E. coli*, or can you investigate other organisms, such as fungi, that cause food spoilage?


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