Page "Antibacterial" Paragraph 26

Antibacterial antibiotics are commonly classified based on their mechanism of action, chemical structure, or spectrum of activity.

Most target bacterial functions or growth processes.

Those that target the bacterial cell wall ( penicillins and cephalosporins ) or the cell membrane ( polymixins ), or interfere with essential bacterial enzymes ( quinolones and sulfonamides ) have bactericidal activities.

Those that target protein synthesis ( aminoglycosides, macrolides, and tetracyclines ) are usually bacteriostatic.

Further categorization is based on their target specificity.

" Narrow-spectrum " antibacterial antibiotics target specific types of bacteria, such as Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacteria, whereas broad-spectrum antibiotics affect a wide range of bacteria.

Following a 40-year hiatus in discovering new classes of antibacterial compounds, three new classes of antibacterial antibiotics have been brought into clinical use: cyclic lipopeptides ( such as daptomycin ), glycylcyclines ( such as tigecycline ), and oxazolidinones ( such as linezolid ).