SOME BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF CEPHALOSPORIN P₁

Abstract

Cephalosporin P1 is an antibiotic from a species of Cephalosporium. Its pro- duction is described by Crawford, Heatley, Boyd, Hale, Kelly, Miller, and Smith (1951) and its isolation and chemical properties by Burton and Abraham (1951). This substance was subjected to a fairly extensive biological investigation, because as its properties were progressively revealed it seemed possible that the substance might be of interest for therapeutic purposes. The cephalosporin used was lyophil- dried material that had been prepared by chromatography and countercurrent dis- tribution between solvents. Its purity was appraised by analysis of the curves obtained from the distribution experiments. As will be shown later, there was little or no difference in antistaphylococcal activity between this material and crystalline cephalosporin.