ABSTRACT
The first effective group of antibacterial drugs to be discovered was the sulfonamides. The sulfonamides are synthetic compounds, which were developed in the 1930s following the chance discovery that a synthetic dye called prontosil had antibacterial activity. Despite the success of the sulfonamides, the real revolution in antibacterial therapy began with the discovery of penicillin in the 1920s. A large range of sulfonamide analogs was synthesized, one of the most effective being sulfapyridine. The penicillins work by preventing the synthesis of bacterial cell walls. The 1930s saw great strides in the isolation, purification and synthesis of many important steroid hormones such as estradiol, testosterone, progesterone and corticosterone, as well as further vitamins. The challenges faced in devising syntheses for endogenous compounds resulted in the development of new chemical reactions and an increased understanding of reactivity and stereochemistry in organic synthesis.
