ABSTRACT
Minocycline is a semisynthetic member of the tetracycline class and was discovered in 1972. The chemical name for minocycline is (2Z,4S,4aS,5aR,12aS)-2-(amino-hydroxymethylidene)-4,7-bis(dimethylamino)-10,11,12a-trihydroxy-4a,5,5a,6-tetrahydro-4H-tetracene-1,3,12-trione. The empirical formula is C23H27N3O7 and the molecular weight is 457.5 (Redin, 1966). Its distinguishing characteristic is an additional dimethylamino group at position 7; the chemical structure is shown in Figure 69.1. Minocycline has an antimicrobial spectrum that is largely similar to those of tetracycline and doxycycline, although there are some differences in activity against key pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Acinetobacter baumannii (Carris et al., 2015; Falagas et al., 2015; Cunha, 2013). The substitution of the dimethylamino group changes the molecule’s pharmacokinetic properties to a greater extent than it changes its antibacterial spectrum features. Chemical structure of minocycline. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315152110/08d8042d-9481-4a8d-8c27-9bd589f6de6b/content/fig69_1.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
