Medicinal chemistry 938177 224950292 2008-07-11T03:56:45Z Littlealien182 3345501 clean up using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] {{redirect|Pharmaceutical chemistry|the subject being offered to the GCE A-level students in Singapore|H3 Pharmaceutical Chemistry}} '''Medicinal''' or '''pharmaceutical chemistry''' is a scientific discipline at the intersection of [[chemistry]] and [[pharmacology]] involved with [[drug design|designing]], [[organic synthesis|synthesizing]] and developing [[pharmaceutical]] [[medication|drugs]]. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and development of [[new chemical entity|new chemical entities]] suitable for therapeutic use. It also includes the study of existing drugs, their biological properties, and their [[quantitative structure-activity relationship]]s (QSAR). Pharmaceutical chemistry is focused on quality aspects of medicines and aims to assure fitness for the purpose of medicinal products. 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]]. Medicinal chemistry is a highly interdisciplinary science combining [[organic chemistry]] with [[biochemistry]], [[computational chemistry]], [[pharmacology]], [[pharmacognosy]], [[molecular biology]], [[statistics]], and [[physical chemistry]]. ==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 [[plant]]s, [[animal]]s, or [[fungi]]. More often, the hits can come from synthetic sources, such as historical compound collections and [[combinatorial chemistry]]. Recent developments in [[robotics]] and [[miniaturization]] have incredibly accelerated and automated the screening process. Typically, a company will assay over 100,000 individual [[chemical compound|compounds]] using a method called [[high-throughput screening]] (HTS), before moving to the optimization step. ===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 compound]]s, 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. :''See also: [[ADME]] and [[Lipinski's Rule of Five]]'' ===Development=== The final step involves the rendering the lead compounds suitable for use in [[clinical trials]]. This involves the optimization of the [[Chemical synthesis|synthetic]] route for bulk production, and the preparation of a suitable drug formulation. ==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 inhibitor]]s * [[Galenic formulation]] * [[List of publications in chemistry#Medicinal chemistry|Important publications in medicinal chemistry]] * [[Pharmacophore]] * [[Pharmacodynamics]] * [[Pharmacokinetics]] * [[Pharmaceutical company]] ==External links== * [http://www.efmc.info/ European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry] ===Scientific journals=== * [[Chemmedchem]] ([http://www.chemmedchem.org ChemMedChem current issue page]) * [[Journal of Medicinal Chemistry]] ([http://pubs.acs.org/journals/jmcmar/index.html table of contents]) * [http://www.bentham.org/cmc/ Current Medicinal Chemistry] * [http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505813/description#description European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry] {{Medicinal chemistry}} {{BranchesofChemistry}} [[Category:Medicinal chemistry]] [[Category:Chemistry]] [[ar:كيمياء دوائية]] [[bn:চিকিৎসা রসায়ন]] [[bs:Medicinska hemija]] [[ca:Química farmacèutica]] [[cs:Farmaceutická chemie]] [[de:Pharmazeutische Chemie]] [[ko:의약화학]] [[id:Kimia medisinal]] [[it:Chimica farmaceutica]] [[ja:医薬品化学]] [[ru:Фармацевтическая химия]] [[scn:Chìmica farmacèutica]] [[sl:Farmacevtska kemija]] [[fi:Lääkeainekemia]] [[th:เคมีเภสัชภัณฑ์]] [[vi:Hóa dược]] [[tr:Farmasötik kimya]] [[zh:药物化学]]