Modification of antibiotics to improve efficacy / safety

With increasing concern over antibiotic resistance, antibacterial agents such as chloramphenicol and colistin, which have frequently been passed over in the past because of concerns over toxicity, are now becoming more important to tackle resistant bacterial strains.  

However, even antibiotics of last resort (notably colistin) are being confronted by emerging strains of bacteria that show signs of resistance. This project seeks to address the problem of antibiotic resistance (and / or the toxicity) by using organic synthesis to subtly modify the structure of the drugs.

  In some cases this may mean altering an existing drug, but where it is synthetically feasible the synthesis will be carried out from readily available commercial starting materials (total synthesis).