It is provided as a white or pale-yellow powder. It is highly soluble in water, but should be dissolved only immediately before use to prevent degradation.

Ticarcillin's antibiotic properties arise from its ability to prevent cross-linking of peptidoglycan during cell wall synthesis, when the bacteria tries to divide, causing cell death.

Ticarcillin, like penicillin, contains a β-lactam ring that can be cleaved by β-lactamases, resulting in inactivation of the antibiotic. Those bacteria that can express β-lactamases are, therefore, resistant to β-lactam antibiotics. Due, at least in part, to the common β-lactam ring, ticarcillin can cause reactions in patients allergic to penicillin. Ticarcillin is also often paired with a β-lactamase inhibitor such as clavulanic acid (co-ticarclav).

Other uses

In molecular biology, ticarcillin is used to as an alternative to ampicillin to test the uptake of marker genes into bacteria. It prevents the appearance of satellite colonies that occur when ampicillin breaks down in the media. It is also used in plant molecular biology to kill Agrobacterium, which is used to deliver genes to plant cells.