Antibiotic and therapeutic compositions thereof

Claim 1

A WEAKLY ACIDIC ANTIBIOTIC DESIGNATED ANTIBIOTIC ZN-6, THAT IS SPARINGLY SOLUBLE IN WATER AND HEXANE, AND SOLUBLE IN ETHANOL, ACETONE, METHYL ISOBUTYL KETONE, AMYL ACETATE AND CHLOROFORM; MELTING AT 191-192 DEGREES CENTIGRADE, HAVING A SPECIFIC ROTATION A!D22 OF MINUS 9 SEGREES IN A 1% SOLUTION IN CHLOROFORM; WHOSE SPECTRUM IN THE INFRA-RED REGION, USING THE POTASSIUM BROMIDE TECHNIQUE, EXHIBITS CHARACTERISTIC ABSORPTION BANDS AS SHOWN ON THE DRAWING AND EXHIBITING THE VALUES AT THE FOLLOWING FREQUENCIES EXPRESSED IN RECIPROCAL CENTIMETERS: 1265, 1385, 1695, 1730 AND 3450; HAVING AT 220 MU A MOLAR EXTINCTION COEFFICIENT OF 8000 IN ETHANOL AND NO CHARACTERISTIC ABSORPTION BANDS ABOVE THIS WAVE-LENGTH; HAVING THE MOLECULAR FORMULA C31H48O6 AND CONTAINING IN THE MOLECULAR A CYCLOPENTENOPOLYHYDROPHENANTHRENE RING SYSTEM WHICH IS SUBSTITUTED WITH TWO HYDROXYL GROUPS, ONE ACETOXY GROUP AND FOUR METHYL GROUPS, AND WHICH IN THE 17-POSITION IS CONNECTED BY A DOUBLE BOND WITH THE A-CARBON ATOM OF 5-METHYL-4,5-HEPTEBOIC ACID; AND FORMS ANTIBIOTICALLY ACTIVE SALTS WITH PHARMACEUTICALLY ACCEPTABLE INORGANIC AND ORGANIC BASES.