Many approaches are used to discover new antibiotic compounds, one of the most widespread being the chemical modification of known antibiotics. This type of discovery has been so important in the development of new antibiotics that most antibiotics used today belong to the same chemical classes as antibiotics discovered in the 1950s and 1960s. Even though the discovery of new classes of antibiotics is urgently needed, the chemical modification of antibiotics in known classes is still widely used to discover new antibiotics, resulting in a great number of compounds in the discovery and clinical pipeline that belong to existing classes. In this scenario, the present article presents an overview of the R&D pipeline of new antibiotics in known classes of antibiotics, from discovery to clinical trial, in order to map out the technological trends in this type of antibiotic R&D, aiming to identify the chemical classes attracting most interest, their spectrum of activity, and the new subclasses under development. The result of the study shows that the new antibiotics in the pipeline belong to the following chemical classes: quinolones, aminoglycosides, macrolides, oxazolidinones, tetracyclines, pleuromutilins, beta-lactams, lipoglycopeptides, polymyxins and cyclic lipopeptides.

The use of enzymes in the pulp and paper industry was introduced in the 1986. However, their use has been relatively minor. This prospective study aims at enhancing the understanding of the most important advances regarding the use of enzymes in this industry and to identify the future trends of this technology. Information gathered from the Web of Science shows a growing number of papers published on this topic indicating an increased interest in this issue. A study on patents also displayed a high number documents related to this technology. Cellulase, xylanase, laccase and lipase are the most important enzymes that can be used in the pulp and paper processes. Furthermore, the key objectives of enzymes development have been in the bleaching boosting with xylanases and fiber modification with cellulases. The current and future trends on the development of enzymes are focused on increasing their thermostability and their alkalinity strength.

Fertilizers are essential inputs for the agribusiness chain—they increase the productivity on available arable land and help to avoid changes in land use. Currently, Brazil is one of the largest consumers of fertilizers in the world but its imports of NPK fertilizers, as a percentage of its total consumption, have risen from 32% in 1988 to 77% in 2018. Biofuels are relevant in the transport sector and the Brazilian government, after the Paris Agreement, created the National Biofuels Policy (Renovabio), which has as one of its goals to raise the participation of biofuels in the transport sector to 28.6% by 2028. Soy, corn, and sugarcane (biofuels raw material) currently account for more than 70% of the consumption of NPK fertilizers in the country. Due to several reasons, in the last 10 years many local projects designed to fill the supply gap for fertilizers in Brazil have not been successful. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions about the reliability of fertilizer supply in global value chains. In this context, is Brazil’s long-term biofuel market at risk after COVID-19? A total of 38 experts were consulted and four reference scenarios were developed. The article concluded that the Brazilian fertilizer industry must be prepared for a scenario of limited increase in demand on a global scale—strategic alliances may be forged to maintain existing installed capacity. Should the Brazilian government fail to provide any stimulus for the country’s fertilizer industry, it is likely that by 2035, Brazil’s biofuel industry sector would be overexposed to price volatility and availability on the global fertilizer market.