Ziracin, a Novel Oligosaccharide Antibiotic

Ziracin is produced by Micromonospora carbonacea1) and is highly active against Grampositive bacteria. In particular it is highly active against methicillin resistant staphylococci and vancomycin resistant enterococci. Ziracin, C70H97NO38Cl2, contains two orthoester linkages, a nitro sugar, a methylene dioxy group, two aromatic ester residues and thirty five centres of assymmetries. In this paper a brief description of the structural elucidation of ziracin is presented along with the chemical modification of the antibiotic which has led to the identification of several potent antibacterials.