Importance of Medicinal chemistry
Medicinal chemistry is the study of how novel drugs can be designed & developed. This process is helped immeasurably by details understanding of the structure and function of the molecule targets that are present in the body.
The major drugs targets are normally large molecule (macromolecule) such as proteins and nucleic acid. Knowing the structure, properties and functions of this macromolecule is crucial if we are to design new drugs.
1. Medicinal chemistry is the application of chemical study processes to the synthesis of pharmaceuticals.
2. It is important to know what function different macromolecule have in the body , whether targeting them is likely to have a beneficial effect in treating a particular disease. There is no point designing a drug to inhibit a digestive enzyme if one is looking for a new analgesic.
3. Knowledge of macromolecule structure is crucial if one is to design a drug that will bind effectively to the target. Knowing the target structure and its functional groups will allow the medicinal chemist to design to a drug that contains complementary functional groups that will bind the drug to the target.
4. A drug must not only bind to the target, it must bind to the correct region of the target. Proteins and nucleic acids are extremely large molecules in comparison to a drug, and if the drug binds to the wrong part of the macromolecule, it may not have any effect. An appreciation of the target’s structure and function will guide the medicinal chemist in this respect.
5. An understanding of how a macromolecule operates is crucial if one is going to design an effective drug that will interfere with that process. for example , understanding the mechanism of how enzyme catalyze reactions has been extremely important in the design of many important drugs ; for example the protease inhibitor used in HIV therapy .
6. Metabolism growth & maintenance of our bodily functions involves medicinal chemistry, as do the analogous changes taking place throughout the entire living world, plant & animal.
7. Current Medicinal Chemistry is a vital journal for each and every medicinal chemist who desires to be kept knowledgeable and up-to-date with all the latest and many important developments.
8. Medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry are usually procedures at the intersection of chemistry, specifically synthetic organic chemistry, and pharmacology as well as other biological specialties, in which they are a part of design, chemical synthesis and also development for marketplace of pharmaceutical agents (drugs).
9. Medicinal chemistry in its most frequent guise—focusing on small organic molecules—encompasses synthetic organic chemistry and facets of natural products and computational chemistry in close combination along with chemical biology, enzymology and structural biology, together aiming at the discovery and development of new therapeutic agents.
10. Medicinal chemistry is practically always aimed toward drug discovery and development.
11. Medicinal chemists use hits to find molecules in which they want to synthesize and develop.
12. Medicinal chemistry is a science on its own and yet it is the link between organic chemistry and biological sciences. Research in medicinal chemistry could be multi-dimensional. It includes the design and synthesis of recent biologically active molecules, the creation of new concepts for the appearance of uniquely acting ligands, improvement of biological activity through molecular modification, molecular modeling on bioactive molecules, physicochemical and theoretical studies investigation of molecular structure on the distribution, metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and poisoning of active chemical entities (ACEs), and lots of alternative activities.
