The present invention discloses certain novel prodrugs of florfenicol and/or of florfenicol analogs, including prodrugs of salts pharmaceutically acceptable salts of florfenicol and its analogs, including nitrogen-containing esters of the secondary alcohol group of florfenicol and of its analogs, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, compositions containing them, and methods of administering them to subjects. In particular embodiments the prodrugs are sufficiently water-soluble to serve the functions needed of a water-soluble prodrug of florfenicol or of a water-soluble prodrug of a florfenicol analog. A certain subclass of the compounds also possesses the hydrolytic stability needed to maintain the prodrug in solution in the subject's system until appropriate conditions exist when the prodrug can hydrolyze, releasing florfenicol or the florfenicol analog in question.