ABSTRACT
Tetracycline was first described in 1953 and was derived from chlortetracycline at Lederle Laboratories (Duggar et al., 1948), and from oxytetracycline at Pfizer Laboratories. Tetracycline is a bacteriostatic antibiotic, and shares a four benzene ring structure with the other tetracyclines (tetracycline derivatives). The chemical name of tetracycline is (2Z)-2-(amino-hydroxymethylidene)-4-dimethylamino-6,10, 11,12a-tetrahydroxy-6-methyl-4,4a,5,5a-tetrahydrotetracene- 1,3,12-trione and the empirical formula C22H24N2O8, with a molecular weight of 444.43; the chemical structure is shown in Figure 67.1. Chemical structure of tetracycline. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315152110/08d8042d-9481-4a8d-8c27-9bd589f6de6b/content/fig67_1.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
