Paldimycin (antibiotic 273a1) and antibiotic 273a2 as well as their individual components, paldimycins A (273a1 alpha) and B (273a1 beta) and antibiotics 273a2 alpha and 273a2 beta were synthesized from paulomycin, paulomycin A and paulomycin B, respectively, by reacting with N-acetyl-L-cysteine. The semisynthetic antibiotics had chromatographic behavior (TLC, HPLC) and physical and chemical properties identical to the properties of the corresponding antibiotics produced by Streptomyces paulus.