Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacology involved with designing, synthesizing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and development of new chemical entities suitable for therapeutic use. It also includes the study of existing drugs, their biological properties, and their quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR). Pharmaceutical chemistry is focused on quality aspects of medicines and aims to assure fitness for the purpose of medicinal products. For other uses, see Chemistry (disambiguation). ... Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmakon (φάρμακον) meaning drug, and lego (λέγω) to tell (about)) is the study of how drugs interact with living organisms to produce a change in function. ... Drug design is the approach of finding drugs by design, based on their biological targets. ... Organic synthesis is the construction of organic molecules via chemical processes. ... Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon is drug, and logos is science) is the study of how chemical substances interfere with living systems. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a new chemical entity means a drug that contains no active moiety that has been approved by FDA in any other application submitted under section 505(b) of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. ... Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) is the process by which chemical structure is quantitatively correlated with a well defined process, such as biological activity or chemical reactivity. ...

Compounds used as medicines are overwhelmingly organic products. However, metal-containing compounds have been found to be useful as drugs. For example, the cis-platin series of platinium-containing complexes have found use as anti-cancer agents. This type of compounds are known as metal-based drugs. General Name, Symbol, Number platinum, Pt, 78 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 6, d Appearance grayish white Atomic mass 195. ...

Medicinal chemistry is a highly interdisciplinary science combining organic chemistry with biochemistry, computational chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacognosy, molecular biology, statistics, and physical chemistry. Organic chemistry is a specific discipline within chemistry which involves the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation (by synthesis or by other means) of chemical compounds consisting primarily of carbon and hydrogen, which may contain any number of other elements, including nitrogen, oxygen, the halogens as... Wöhler observes the synthesis of urea. ... Computational chemistry is a branch of chemistry that uses the results of theoretical chemistry incorporated into efficient computer programs to calculate the structures and properties of molecules and solids, applying these programs to complement the information obtained by actual chemical experiments, predict hitherto unobserved chemical phenomena, and solve related problems. ... Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmakon (φάρμακον) meaning drug, and lego (λέγω) to tell (about)) is the study of how drugs interact with living organisms to produce a change in function. ... Pharmacognosy is the study of medicines from natural sources. ... Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. ... This article is about the field of statistics. ... Physical chemistry, is the application of physics to macroscopic, microscopic, atomic, subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems[1] within the field of chemistry traditionally using the principles, practices and concepts of thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics and kinetics. ...

Process of drug discovery

Discovery

The first step of drug discovery involves the identification of new active compounds, often called "hits", which are typically found by screening many compounds for the desired biological properties. These hits can come from natural sources, such as plants, animals, or fungi. More often, the hits can come from synthetic sources, such as historical compound collections and combinatorial chemistry. In medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered and/or designed. ... For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Divisions Chytridiomycota Zygomycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota The Fungi (singular: fungus) are a large group of organisms ranked as a kingdom within the Domain Eukaryota. ... Combinatorial chemistry involves the rapid synthesis or the computer simulation of a large number of different but structurally related molecules. ...

Recent developments in robotics and miniaturization have incredibly accelerated and automated the screening process. Typically, a company will assay over 100,000 individual compounds using a method called high-throughput screening (HTS), before moving to the optimization step. The Shadow robot hand system holding a lightbulb. ... Miniaturization is a continuing trend in technology toward ever-smaller scales for first mechanical, then optical and most recently electronic devices. ... A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more different elements chemically bonded together in a fixed proportion by mass. ... High-throughput screening (HTS), is a method for scientific experimentation especially used in drug discovery and relevant to the fields of biology and chemistry. ...

Optimization

The second step of drug discovery involves the synthetic modification of the hits in order to improve the biological properties of the compound pharmacophore. The quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) of the pharmacophore play an important part in finding lead compounds, which exhibit the most potency, most selectivity, best pharmacokinetics and least toxicity. QSAR involves mainly physical chemistry and molecular docking tools (CoMFA and CoMSIA), that leads to tabulated data and first and second order equations. There are many theories, being the most relevant Hansch's analysis that involves Hammett electronic parameters, stearic parameters and logP(lipophilicity) parameters. A pharmacophore is a three-dimensional substructure of a molecule that carries (phoros) the essential features responsible for a drugs (pharmacon) biological activity. ... Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) is the process by which chemical structure is quantitatively correlated with a well defined process, such as biological activity or chemical reactivity. ... A lead compound in drug discovery is a chemical compound that has pharmacological or biological activity and whose chemical structure is used as a starting point for chemical modifications in order to improve potency, selectivity, or pharmacokinetic parameters. ... Pharmacokinetics (in Greek: pharmacon meaning drug, and kinetikos meaning putting in motion) is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to the determination of the fate of substances administered externally to a living organism. ... Stearic acid (IUPAC systematic name: octadecanoic acid) is one of the useful types of saturated fatty acids that comes from many animal and vegetable fats and oils. ...

See also: ADME and Lipinski's Rule of Five

ADME is an acronym in pharmacokinetics and pharmacology for Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion, and describes the disposition of a pharmaceutical compound within an animal or human body. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Druglikeness. ...

Development

The final step involves the rendering the lead compounds suitable for use in clinical trials. This involves the optimization of the synthetic route for bulk production, and the preparation of a suitable drug formulation. In medicine, a clinical trial (synonyms: clinical studies, research protocols, medical research) is a research study. ... In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions in order to get a product, or several products. ...

Training in medicinal chemistry

Many workers in the field do not have formal training in medicinal chemistry. Graduate (postgraduate) level programs do exist in medicinal chemistry, but frequently the broader education in a chemistry graduate program can provide many of the skills needed.

See also

• Pharmacology
• Pharmacognosy
• Enzyme inhibitors
• Galenic formulation
• Important publications in medicinal chemistry
• Pharmacophore
• Pharmacodynamics
• Pharmacokinetics
• Pharmaceutical company

Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmakon (φάρμακον) meaning drug, and lego (λέγω) to tell (about)) is the study of how drugs interact with living organisms to produce a change in function. ... Pharmacognosy is the study of medicines from natural sources. ... HIV protease in a complex with the protease inhibitor ritonavir. ... Galenic formulation deals with the principles of preparing and compounding medicines in order to optimize their absorption. ... This is a list of important publications in chemistry, organized by field. ... A pharmacophore is a three-dimensional substructure of a molecule that carries (phoros) the essential features responsible for a drugs (pharmacon) biological activity. ... Pharmacodynamics is the study of the biochemical and physiological effects of drugs and the mechanisms of drug action and the relationship between drug concentration and effect. ... Pharmacokinetics (in Greek: pharmacon meaning drug, and kinetikos meaning putting in motion) is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to the determination of the fate of substances administered externally to a living organism. ... A pharmaceutical company, or drug company, is a commercial business whose focus is to research, develop, market and/or distribute drugs, most commonly in the context of healthcare. ...

External links

• European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry

Scientific journals

• Chemmedchem (ChemMedChem current issue page)
• Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (table of contents)
• Current Medicinal Chemistry
• European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry