Penicillin production Industrial Microbiology Nafisa Shaikh Penicillin Production A Simple Explanation Penicillin is a type of antibiotic that was first discovered by Alexander Fleming It is produced by microorganisms and inhibits the growth of other microorganisms In this blog post we will discuss the structure of penicillin and the process of producing penicillin Structure of Penicillin The general structure of penicillin contains a thiazolidinedione lactam ring a sulfide chain and a core region known as a constant region 6 APA and a side chain acid chain The side chain can vary depending on the type of penicillin such as benzylpenicillin or phenoxymethylpenicillin Production of Penicillin The production of penicillin involves five steps Step 1 Selection of Microorganism The fungi Penicillium notatum and Penicillium chrysogenum are used for penicillin production Penicillium notatum is more efficient while Penicillium chrysogenum has a faster growth rate Step 2 Selection of Raw Material Raw materials should provide abundant growth easy accumulation of penicillin and easy extraction and purification Synthetic medium such as carbon sources glucose sucrose lactose and nitrogen sources ammonium acetate ammonium lactate ammonium sulfate are used Step 3 Preparation of Inoculum Inoculum is prepared using a special medium designed by Moyer and Coggins in 1946 There are two types of inoculum seed stage culture using fungal spores and production stage culture using fungal mycelium Step 4 Fermentation Process The fermentation process takes place in a fermenter where raw material synthetic medium and fungal inoculum are added The temperature is maintained at 30 40 C and pH is adjusted using basic solutions such as NH408 Step 5 Recovery Process The recovery process involves filtration to remove the fungal mycelium and extraction of penicillin using organic solvents The final product is penicillin salt This is how penicillin is produced on an industrial scale