Question

Penicillin has a built in self destruct mechanism?
How it works to destroy beta lactam ring?
Describe with the help of reactions involved

Answer 1

Explanation:

β-lactam antibiotics (beta-lactam antibiotics) are the antibiotic agents that contain a beta-lactam ring in their molecular structure. This includes penicillin derivatives (penams), cephalosporins (cephems), monobactams, carbapenems[1] and carbacephems.[2] Most β-lactam antibiotics work by inhibiting cell wall biosynthesis in the bacterial organism and are the most widely used group of antibiotics. Until 2003, when measured by sales, more than half of all commercially available antibiotics in use were β-lactam compounds.[3] The first β-lactam antibiotic discovered, penicillin, was isolated from a rare variant of Penicillium notatum (since renamed Penicillium chrysogenum).[4][5]

Answer 2

Answer:

Pharmacology. Penicillin inhibits activity of enzymes that are needed for the cross linking of peptidoglycans in bacterial cell walls, which is the final step in cell wall biosynthesis. It does this by binding to penicillin binding proteins with the beta-lactam ring, a structure found on penicillin molecules.

Bacteria that can destroy penicillin do so by secreting enzymes called beta-lactamases. These enzymes cleave the beta-lactam ring of penicillin so that the drug becomes inactive.