I don’t exactly understand the step from the mould to the pill/medicine. I mean, you couldn’t eat the mould and get the same result, or could you?
In: Biology
Fungus and bacteria compete with each other for food. So the mold produces a chemical that will kill many bacteria. Getting penicillin out of the mold that makes it is going to be similar to extracting anything. You grow lots of the mold, kill it, then use some method to extract the specific chemical you want.
I don’t know what the specific extraction method is with penicillin, but it could be something like steam distillation, or a solvent extraction. In a steam extraction, you steam a substance, and the steam will pick up volatile chemicals. Condense the steam and you will get some of those chemicals. In solvent extraction, you basically make tea. You soak the mold in a liquid, and chemicals dissolve into the liquid. From there, you use other methods to further purify what you extracted.
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