Phenol is an industrially important organic compound, produced on a large scale and used as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds. Phenol and its vapors are corrosive to the eyes, the skin, and the respiratory tract. The corrosive effect on skin and mucous membranes is due to a protein-degenerating effect. In medicine, phenol is used as an antiseptic and disinfectant. Phenol is also used as an oral analgesic or anesthetic in products such as Chloraseptic to treat sore throat pain, sore mouth, pain associated with canker sores and minor mouth irritation. Additionally, phenol and its related compounds are used in surgical ingrown toenail treatment, a process termed phenolization.

Gemifloxacin is an oral broad-spectrum quinolone antibacterial agent used in the treatment of acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and mild-to-moderate pneumonia. Gemifloxacin mesylate is marketed under the brand name Factive, indicated for the treatment of bacterial infection caused by susceptible strains such as S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, H. parainfluenzae, or M. catarrhalis, S. pneumoniae (including multi-drug resistant strains [MDRSP]), M. pneumoniae, C. pneumoniae, or K. pneumoniae. Gemifloxacin has in vitro activity against a wide range of Gram-negative and Grampositive microorganisms. Gemifloxacin is bactericidal with minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) generally within one dilution of the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). Gemifloxacin acts by inhibiting DNA synthesis through the inhibition of both DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV (TOPO IV), which are essential for bacterial growth. Streptococcus pneumoniae showing mutations in both DNA gyrase and TOPO IV (double mutants) are resistant to most fluoroquinolones. Gemifloxacin has the ability to inhibit both enzyme systems at therapeutically relevant drug levels in S. pneumoniae (dual targeting), and has MIC values that are still in the susceptible range for some of these double mutants.