2-Azetidinone and its applicability as a versatile drug

Azetidin-2-ones, commonly known as ¿-lactams, are well-known heterocyclic compounds among the organic and medicinal chemists mainly because of their antimicrobial and diverse pharmacological activities. The ¿-lactam antibiotics are still the most prescribed antibiotics used in medicine. They are considered as an important contribution of science to humanity. The most widely used antibiotics such as the Penicillins, Cephalosporins, Carumonam, Aztreonam, Thienamycine and the Nocardicins contain ¿-lactam (azetidin-2-one) ring. As part of interest in heterocycles that have been explored for developing pharmaceutically important molecules, 2-azetidinones have played an important role in medicinal chemistry. Moreover they have been studied extensively because of their ready accessibility, diverse chemical reactivity and broad spectrum of biological activity