Concepts in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| PHAR2014 | Pharmacy | 2 | 10 | Spring Malaysia |
- Code
- PHAR2014
- School
- Pharmacy
- Level
- 2
- Credits
- 10
- Semesters
- Spring Malaysia
Summary
A pharmaceutical scientist needs to have a strong knowledge of the chemistry and biology of drugs used for the treatment and/or management of many diseases. A crucial aspect of this background knowledge is the understanding of medicinal chemistry concepts, and the application of these concepts for the discovery of efficacious medicines.
This module therefore builds on the knowledge base acquired from the year one module B31B07 Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry, and links in to other modules, especially B32C02 (Pharmaceutical Microbiology). It develops more advanced aspects of fundamental mechanistic organic chemistry, including conjugated systems, aromaticity, and electrophilic and nucleophilic addition and substitution reactions. Basic principles in heterocyclic structure and reactivity will be introduced, and these concepts will be developed by looking at the role of heterocycles in medicinal and biological chemistry. The concept of modern medicinal chemistry will be introduced, which includes the main phases of the drug discovery and development process, fundamentals of non-covalent molecular recognition, the measurement of biological activities and aspects of drug design.
It will then move on to provide in depth discussion on some of the most important natural and synthetic drugs including their discovery, chemistry, biology and therapeutic applications. A case-by-case study approach will be applied throughout the section.
Target Students
BSc Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences - Level 2 students
Classes
- One 2-hour workshop each week for 4 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 7 weeks
Assessment
- 20% Mid-term Rogo: 45 mins assessment
- 80% Exam (2-hour): 2 hours in person or 2-hours short timed Moodle exam
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
By the end of the module, students should:1. Understand the fundamental principles and advanced aspects of conjugated systems, aromaticity, electrophilic and nucleophilic addition and substitution, and free radical reactions.2. Understand the fundamental principles of modern medicinal chemistry.3. Have a detailed knowledge of several important classes of natural products and synthetic drugs of medicinal importance, their sources, discovery and development, biological activity, structure-activity relationships and applications as therapeutic agents.4. Have a broad appreciation of the chemical mechanisms of natural product biosynthesis and drug synthesis.Learning Outcomes
- Deductive reasoning
- Problem solving ability
- Information retrieval and analysis
- Written communication
- Student centered learning
Conveners
- Dr New Siu Yee