Enantiotracin

The enantiomer of the antibiotic bacitracin A was prepared by solid-phase total synthesis. ent-Bacitracin A was found to be equally potent to the natural enantiomer in in vitro susceptibility assays. This supports the notion that bacitracin exerts its antibacterial effects through interaction with bactoprenylpyrophosphate, an achiral ligand.