Acyloxymethyl as a drug protecting group. Part 7: Tertiary sulfonamidomethyl ester prodrugs of benzylpenicillin: chemical hydrolysis and anti-bacterial activity
are the ultimate products detected and isolated, indicating that beta-lactam ring opening is much slower than ester hydrolysis. As expected from the high reactivity, benzylpenicillin esters (4) displayed similar in vitro antibacterial activity to benzylpenicillin itself. Compared to the benzylpenicillin derivatives, sulfonamidomethyl esters of benzoic, clofibric and valproic acids display a much higher