A maleic acid/anhydride derivative potentially useful as building blocks for the synthesis of a diverse range of structurally interesting, complex and bioactive molecules/polymers with tailored material characteristics. A maleic acid derivative that has an inhibitory activity against metallo-B-lactamase. The use of the compound in combination with a B-lactam antibiotic enables to recover the anti-bacterial activity of the B-lactam antibiotic against a bacterium capable of producing metallo-B-lactamase.
