Progress in Designing Greener Antibiotics

The accumulation of pharmaceuticals in the environment, especially in the marine environment, that are persistent is a growing global environmental and health problem. In particular, antibiotics are a concern due to global overuse, with as much as 90% of the active substance being excreted from the patient. Antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat to humanity and must be fought on every battlefront. A key strategy is the construction of novel antimicrobial scaffolds that the bacteria do not have preprogrammed resistance toward, which can further naturally degrade before accumulating in the environment. In this perspective, the ongoing research that focuses on developing strategies that enable antibiotics to decompose quickly after leaving the patient is highlighted, discussed, and linked to the 12 principles of green chemistry.