The use of antibiotics in the treatment by antibacterial and antifungal chemo therapy, has become standard practice since the end of World War Two and has had an enormous impact on healthcare throughout the world. Compounds belonging to this class have also reached an important place in the medical treatment of human cancer. Although, the discovery of most of these agents came from more or less sophisticated screening programs of soil microrganisms, many of the important antibiotics used today in clinical practice are derived from the original biosynthetic products by the application of often...

The 1st Euchem Symposium on the Chemical Synthesis of Antibiotics was held in Aussois in Savoie, France on May 2-6, 1988 thanks to the efforts of Prof. G. Lukacs, chairperson, and Prof. F. Arcamone and Prof. P. Welzel, vice-chairpersons of the International Organizing Committee. Following the great success of the Ist Symposium, the 2nd Symposium, which was chaired by Prof. Ohno, was held in Oiso, Japan in 1990. The 3rd Symposium, chaired by Prof. K. Krohn, was held in Kloster Banz, Germany in 1992. It has been decided that the 4th Symposium will take place in the United States in 1994 and be...