β-lactam compounds are compounds that contain a beta-lactam ring in their molecular structure. This includes penicillin derivatives (penams), cephalosporins (cephems), monobactams, carbapenems and carbacephems. Most β-lactam antibiotics work by inhibiting cell wall biosynthesis in the bacterial organism and are the most widely used group of antibiotics. Until 2003, when measured by sales, more than half of all commercially available antibiotics in use were β-lactam compounds.

TargetMol’s Beta-Lactam Compound Library collects 90 beta-lactam compounds with annotated activities, which can be used for research in anti-bacterial and anti-infection.