The idea for publishing these books on the mechanism of action and on the biosynthesis of antibiotics was born of frustration in our attempts to keep abreast of the literature. Gone were the years when we were able to keep a biblio- graphy on antibiotics and feel confident that we could find everything that was being published on this subject. These fields of investigation were moving for- ward so rapidly and were encompassing so wide a range of specialized areas in microbiology and chemistry that it was almost impossible to keep abreast of developments. In our naivete and enthusiasm,...

The Series on Antibiotics produced by Springer-Verlag began more than a decade ago with the nearly simultaneous appearance of two volumes, one dealing with the mode of action of antibiotics and the other concerning the biosynthesis of them. The standards set by the original Editors were high, and these books have proved useful to many. The rapid advances in our knowl edge of the mode of action of antibiotics and other antitumor agents has stimu lated two further works in the same series (Volume III, 1975; and Volumes Vj1 and Vj2, 1979). For some time it had appeared to Dr. Konrad Springer...

It is not certain that the editors of Antibiotics I (1967), Drs. GOTTLffiB and SHAW, fully realized that they were laying the foundation for an entire series of which we present here Vol. VI. For some time to come, this will be the last volume of the Antibiotics series. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the discovery of medicinally useful antibiotics has leveled off, because the number of microbiological products with antimicrobial properties is not infinite. In 1972 some 2500 antibiotic substances were known, of which approximately one per cent are clinically useful. Further...

This volume is the third in the series devoted to Antibiotics initiated by Springer Verlag in 1967. The first two volumes were devoted to the Mode of Action of Antibiotics and Biogenesis, respectively and were received graciously. During the intervening years these two works have been used often by research workers and students alike and have been quoted extensively. Although a number of other excellent treatises on antibiotics have appeared, the Springer series has set a standard for thoroughness and quality that meets the need of the scientific community. It is against this background that...

The idea for publishing these books on the mechanism of action and on the biosynthesis of antibiotics was born of frustration in our attempts to keep abreast of the literature. Gone were the years when we were able to keep a biblio- graphy on antibiotics and feel confident that we could find everything that was being published on this subject. These fields of investigation were moving for- ward so rapidly and were encompassing so wide a range of specialized areas in microbiology and chemistry that it was almost impossible to keep abreast of developments. In our naivete and enthusiasm,...