From the discovery of penicillin by Fleming in 1940's there has been a constant search for new antibiotics, which search continues to this day. Although many antibiotics have been discovered, there is an on-going need for the discovery of new antibiotic compounds because of the emergence of drug resistant strains of bacteria. Thus, research on bacterial infection is a perpetual cycle of development of new antibiotics. When penicillin was first discovered, its broad-spectrum antibiotic activity was hailed as the "magic bullet" in fighting many bacterial infections. However, over the years, many strains of bacteria have developed a resistance to penicillin and other currently available antibiotic drugs. No antibiotic drug is effective against all bacterial infections. Many antibiotic drugs available today have narrow-spectrum of activity, that is, they are effective against only few specific types of bacterial infections. Thus, for example, the majority of current antibiotic drugs are ineffective against syphilis and tuberculosis. In addition, some strains of syphilis, tuberculosis and other bacteria have developed resistance to currently available antibiotic drugs, which were effective drugs in the past.
Most bacteria which are resistant to a given drug also exhibit similar resistance to chemically similar drugs. Currently, many antibiotics are based on the .beta.-lactam chemical core structure of penicillin. Although other chemically diverse antibiotics, such as vancomycin, are currently available, it is only a matter of time before the emergence of bacterial strains which will be resistant to all currently available antibiotic drugs. Thus, to prevent a future world-wide epidemic of drug resistant bacterial infections, there is a never ending need for a development of antibiotic drugs with novel chemical structures. This invention addresses this goal among others.
It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide novel di-nitrogen heterocycle compounds and combinations of such compounds for use in the preparation of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals.
A further object of the invention is to provide combinations of such compounds in a form such that resulting compositions have structurally and chemically diverse properties for use as research reagents and otherwise.
Yet another object is to provide products produced by processes herein disclosed for the preparation of pharmaceuticals and other useful chemical species.
A further object is to provide methods for the identification of useful drugs and reagents.
These and other objects will become apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of the present specification and appended claims.