Antibiotic Coordination Frameworks against Antibiotic Resistance: How to Involve Students through Experimental Practices in the Search for Solutions to Public Health Problems

TL;DR

This paper describes a student-led lab experiment to create and test a new antibiotic compound to combat antibiotic resistance.

Contribution

An innovative educational framework combining medicinal chemistry and microbiology to engage students in tackling antibiotic resistance.

Findings

Zn-nalidixic acid ACF was synthesized with up to 82% yield and high purity.

Zn-ACF showed higher antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli than nalidixic acid.

Students developed soft skills through presenting results in a poster format.

Abstract

For decades, multiple varieties of antibiotics have been
successfully
used for therapeutic purposes. Nevertheless, antibiotic resistance
is currently one of the major threats to global health. This work
presents an innovative laboratory practice carried out in an inorganic
medicinal chemistry course within the Degrees of Pharmacy and Biochemistry
for undergraduate students. This experiment includes three classes
of 2 h each. The first class consisted of the mechanochemical synthesis
of an antibiotic coordination framework (ACF) using a known antibiotic
(nalidixic acid) and zinc as the ligand. The prepared Zn-nalidixic
acid ACF (Zn-ACF) was obtained in up to 82% yield with high purity.
On the second day, the synthesized Zn-ACF was characterized by Fourier-transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD).
Finally, during the last class, the antimicrobial activity was tested
against Escherichia coli by the well diffusion method.
The students verified the higher antimicrobial activity of Zn-ACF
compared to nalidixic acid, proving that small changes in the chemical
structure can result in great biological differences. In the end,
the students presented their results in a poster format, encouraging
the development of their soft skills and scientific results communication
and dissemination. In the future, it is expected that such a laboratory
experiment at the interface between medicinal chemistry, microbiology,
analytical techniques, public health, and pharmacology will lead to
the development and implementation of some service-learning practices
and will serve as a model to look at for other courses and institutions.

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