Recent Advances towards the Design of Environment-Friendly Quinolone Antibiotics based on Theoretical Approach

Dear Colleagues,

In our society, many natural and synthetic compounds are widely used in the medical field. Antibiotics, a product of both natural and synthetic, have been developed to treat various bacterial infections or inhibit pathogenic microbial infections, such as intestinal infections, respiratory infections, and other diseases. Quinolones are a kind of antibiotic with keto acid as the common framework. They have been widely used for the clinical treatment of human and veterinary diseases because of their broad spectrum of antibacterial activity, high antibacterial action, and strong tissue penetration. Unfortunately, the extensive use of quinolones leads to the continuous infusion of quinolones and their active ingredients into the water, making them frequently detected in environmental samples. The persistence of quinolones residues in the aquatic system could lead to a serious and unpredictable threat to the ecosystem and human health.

Quinolones enter into the water environment through the direct discharge of human and animal feces, and the aquaculture industry’s drug use and wastewater. This kind of water environment contains various toxic organic compounds, which are difficult to degrade and have high concentrations of active ingredients. Although the water has been heavily treated beforehand, the components of quinolones and their residues still have a strong inhibition on the growth of microorganisms in the wastewater. Due to the characteristics of large water quality and water fluctuation, quinolones will continue to migrate and diffuse in water.

Aside from the low degradability of quinolones, their metabolites also have the same or even stronger toxicity than the quinolones, and may be transformed into antibiotic drugs. For example, moxifloxacin, as a kind of quinolone, can produce chlorinated products with higher genotoxicity in a low-dose chlorination reaction. A high-dose chlorination reaction, on the other hand, can easily produce many chlorinated products with an isomeric effect.

To overcome the above problems, the aim of this Special Issue is to summarize recent research findings in the field of rational drug design through using the molecular model of the structural characteristics of the ligands and receptors. Thus, the inclusion of degradation studies, metabolites analysis, environmental pollution, adverse reaction, drug design, and theoretical studies of the structure–activity relationship of quinolones are welcome. The critical visions from the contributors will help us to understand and emphasize the advances in our knowledge of the degradation of quinolones and their metabolites.

Prof. Dr. Yu Li
Guest Editor

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