TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The sodium ion source in step (iii) includes sodium acetate, sodium propionate, sodium citrate, sodium lactate, sodium 2-ethylhexanoate, sodium hydroxide, sodium bicarbonate and/or sodium carbonate. The preferably used sodium ion source is sodium 2-ethylhexanoate.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The amine in step (i) includes aliphatic and aromatic amines such as methylamine; dimethylamine; diethylamine; triethylamine; trimethylamine; ethanolamine; methylethanolamine; diisopropylamine; dicyclohexylamine; N-tert-butylcyclohexylamine; pyridine; piperidine; N-methylpiperidine; N-ethylpiperidine; diphenylamine; 1,4-dimethylpiperazine; N,N-dibenzylethylenediamine; 4-dimethylaminopyridine; 1,5-diazabicyclo(4.3.0)non-5-ene (DBN); and/or 1,8-diazabicyclo(5.4.0)undec-7-ene (DBU). The solvent in step (i) and step (iii) include aqueous ketones such as methyl isobutyl ketone, dimethyl ketone, diethyl ketone, and/or acetone. The preferably used amine is triethylamine. The preferably used aqueous ketone is aqueous acetone. Preferred Method: The temperature employed in step (i) and step (iii) are -50 degrees C to 50 degrees C. The suitable time for reacting 7-aminocephalosporanic acid (III) with 2-thienylacetyl chloride (IV) in step (i) is less than 10 hours, preferably less about 7 hours, especially less than 5 hours. ACTIVITY - Antibacterial. No biological data given.    MECHANISM OF ACTION - None given.    ADMINISTRATION - The compound is administered parenterally. No dosage details given.    EXAMPLE - 7-Aminocephalosporanic acid (7-ACA) (20 g) and triethylamine (14.9 g) were stirred for 60 minutes at -20 degrees C in a mixture of acetone (400 ml) and water (20 ml) to get a clear solution which was further cooled to -20 degrees C to -25 degrees C. 2-Thiophene acetyl chloride solution (15.2 g in 40 ml acetone) was added to this clear solution and stirred at -15 degrees C to -20 degrees C to get 7-ACA content below 0.5% by HPLC. The clear solution was further treated with activated carbon (1.0 g), stirred for 30 minutes and the reaction mass was filtered through filter aid to get a clear solution. Temperature of reaction mass was raised to 10 degrees C to 15 degrees C. Sodium 2-ethyl hexanoate solution (9.2 g in 80 ml acetone) was added to the above reaction mass over a period of 60 minutes to 90 minutes. Further acetone (80 ml) was added to the reaction mass at 10 degrees C and stirred for complete precipitation. The precipitated solid was filtered, washed with acetone (40 ml) and dried to afford 18.6 g of cephalothin sodium (HPLC purity: 99%).