Huh, I did not know they were related to sulfonamides like that. If you (or someone else) might like a book that goes into the history of sulfonamides, I'd recommend "The Demon Under The Microscope" by Hager (https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Under-Microscope-Battlefield-Ho...). It was an interesting read.
Ha, yes. The "sulfonamide" name may make it sound like just an OH acid/amine swap, but the buried part is that all such antibiotics have a big benzene ring hanging off the other end. The prototype is instead sulfanilamide.
I don't see any merit to this antimicrobial hypothesis, honestly. Muscle catabolism happens whenever protein is needed: what's the microbial threat when a body is starting to starve and disassembles some muscles to get gluconeogenesis going?
