ATLANTIC CITY, Sept. 8—The first production of a completely synthetic antibiotic through a method that may lead to the making of drugs tailored to combat specific infections was announced today by, a Cornell University chemist.
The synthesis of Terramycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic havIng the chemical name of oxytetracycline, was the result of 10 years of work by Dr. Hans H. Muxfeldt, a professor of chemistry at Ithaca, and a group of co-workers in West Germany, the University of Wisconsin and Cornell.
Dr. Muxfeldt's work was hailed as "a remarkable achievement" by other scientists attending the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in the Claridge Hotel, at which the synthesis was made public.
The synthetic Terramycin was built In a series of 16 complicated steps from a base molecule of u lone, a compound derived from walnuts..
Atoms and pieces of other molecules were added and subtracted until then emerged a molecule with a formula of C22H22O4N2. This Is identical in content, form and biological action to the naturally-made Terramycin
Dr. Muxfeldt told a news conference that the synthesizing of Terramycin was "completely academic," since the supplies of the antibiotic are such that a new method of production is not needed.
"But in learning how to make synthetic Terramycin, we now know how to apply the molecule engineering process to the production of other compounds." he said. 'This means that it eventually might be possible to construct a molecule of a compound not found in nature and match it with a specific disease for which no remedy existed."
Key Medical Tool
Since Its discovery by chemists at Chas. Pfizer & Co., in 1949, Terramycin has become one of the most important and widely used drugs in medicine.
It has been used to combat the organisms that cause pneumonia and other respiratory disorders, yaws, syphilis, cholera, anthrax, meningitis, typhus, whooping cough, scarlet fever, skin and eye disorders, and food poisoning caused by salmonella germs.
Dr. Lloyd H. Conover, a leader in the field of antibiotic research who Is director of chemical research-chemotherapy at the Pfizer medical research laboratories in Groton, Conn., said Dr. Muxfeldt had performed "a remarkable achievement in synthetic organic chemistry."
Another expert, Dr. Albert J. Frey, executive vice president of research for Sandoz, Inc., said the Cornell work "opens broad possibilities for the development of new synthetic and semisynthetic antibiotics."
Dr. Muxfeldt said he became interested in synthesizing the Terramycin molecule in 1953 while earning his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Goettingen in West Germany.
Early Efforts Derided
Ills work continued at other German and Swiss research centers where he came to be described as "the crazy German who thinks he can synthesize Terramycin." He left Germany to work at the University of Wisconsin in 1961, and went to Cornell two years ago.
During this decade he has received support from the National Science foundation, the Pfizer Company and another pharmaceutical house, Hoffman-LaRoche.
He also received $150,000 from the National Institutes of Health to help underwrite the cost of his work. Yet, ironically, only a month before he was to realize that the Terramycin synthesis was complete, he was notified by the institute that an application for more funds had been denied.
He observed that he was only one of thousands of scientists whose financial support from the Federal Government had been sharply reduced or suspended completely.
Dr. Muxfeldt, 41 years old, has such a youthful countenance that he said several years ago a bartender had demanded his identification after he had asked for a bottle of beer. He lives with his wife and [illegible microfilm] children on the Cornell campus.
He was assisted in his research by Dr. Jared B. Mooberry of Cornell, and Drs. Edwin Vedejs, Faizulla Kathawaia and Gotz Hardtramen at Wisconsin.
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