Medicinal Chemistry

MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY

Medicinal Chemistry is an interdisciplinary research area incorporating synthetic organic chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology and pharmaceutical chemistry in the search for better drugs.

AIM

The aim of the unit is to integrate chemical biology and organic chemistry to reveal how these are used in medicinal chemistry to design and synthesise new drugs and to understand their mode of action.

OBJECTIVES

CBMS342/CBMS842 is designed to provide:

• a basic chemical understanding of life processes and biological control;
• a chemical basis for the rational design, synthesis, mechanism of action, and selective metabolic inhibition of drugs;
• basic laboratory skills necessary for research in medicinal chemistry;
• an appreciation of medicinal chemistry and the chemical aspects of drug synthesis; and
• a chemically-oriented foundation for post-graduate research and study in medicinal chemistry and professional studies in the health sciences.

PREREQUISITES

For CBMS342, the prerequisites are CBMS204 and CBMS223. For CBMS842, entry into the Masters of Biotechnology program is required. Please note Masters students are advised to only take this unit if they have a strong organic chemistry background.

STRUCTURE

CBMS342 and CBMS842 have three hours/week allocated to lectures/tutorials. While formal lectures will be presented, discussion sessions will also form a major part of the classes. This will be supplemented by practical classes using synthetic chemistry, spectroscopic methods, bioassays and computational chemistry. The practical classes will be run in groups and students are required to, in part, design the experiments, using literature procedures as a guide. Considerable preparation is therefore needed. Practical classes start in the FIRST week of session and end in the last week, but each class may (or may not) include actual preparative chemistry.

ASSESSMENT - assessment differs between CBMS342 and CBMS842. The specific differences will be detailed further in the unit outline.

The practical work will be conducted in groups, with approx. 4 people per group. For each group a laboratory report (in the style of a journal article) will be handed in at the end of the session as well as the laboratory notebook of each student. The whole group will get the same mark for the report (/10%), but each student will be given an individual mark for their laboratory notebooks, general safety and participation in the laboratory, and introductory component of their report (total /15%). Assignment 1 consists of a report that summarises the chemical and biological properties of a drug in current use; Assignment 2 consists of a literature report on a recent advancement in medicinal chemistry. To pass the unit you must pass the practical component (/25%) and the final exam (/50%).

TEXT

"An introduction to medicinal chemistry", 3^rd edition, Patrick, Graham L. For those students who have the 2^nd edition, this will also be referred to.

RECOMMENDED READING

"A textbook of drug design and development", 2nd Edition, Povl Krogsgaard-Larson, Tommy Liljefors, Ulf Madsen, (RS420.T49/1996). (See course notes for further suggested reading.)

WEB SITE

If you are enrolled in this course please click on the login below or go directly to the URL http://online.mq.edu.au/

We hope you will find this course both fun and rewarding!

Cheers

Joanne Jamie (unit coordinator)