UGA Bulletin Logo

Medicinal Chemistry


Course Description

Integration of the basic principles of organic chemistry, biology, and biochemistry in order to understand how synthetic and naturally-occurring biologically active compounds function in living organisms.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be administered different examinations that will require them to demonstrate greater critical thinking skills by applying concepts from the course in the design and interpretation of experiments. In addition, graduate students will be assigned a contemporary topic beyond the typical content of the course. They will have to independently research this topic and prepare an informative report or presentation on this topic.


Athena Title

Medicinal Chemistry


Prerequisite

(CHEM 2212 and BCMB(BIOL)(CHEM) 3100) or permission of department


Semester Course Offered

Offered spring


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Course Objectives

The student should be able to: 1. Identify the drug or drug class given the structure of the drug or a drug prototype 2. List the indications for a drug or drug class 3. Discuss the side effects of a given drug and the mechanism of these side effects 4. Describe the mechanism of action and the pharmacological action of a given drug or drug class 5. Describe the physicochemical (biological stability) and pharmaceutical (chemical stability) properties of a given drug or drug class 6. Describe the structure-activity relationship for a given drug class 7. Describe the ADME characteristics of a given drug or class 8. Describe how physiological and pathophysiological conditions affect the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) of a drug 9. Describe how other drugs influence the ADME characteristic of a given drug


Topical Outline

1. Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design 2. Drugs acting on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, including direct cholinergic agents, indirect cholinergic agents, antimuscarinic agents, neuromuscular blocking agents, adrenergic agonists, adrenergic antagonists 3. Antihistamines 4. Cardiovascular Agents, including lipid lower agents, cardiac glycosides, diuretics, misc. vasodilators, anti-arrhythmic drugs 5. Prostaglandins and NSAIDS 6. Drugs of the endocrine system, including steroids, thyroid agents, insulin and oral anti-diabetic agents 7. CNS agents, including antidepressants, antipsychotic agents, antimigraine and Parkinson’s disease drugs 8. Antibiotics, including beta-lactams, macrolides, tetracyclines and aminoglycosides 9. Antibacterial and antifungal agents, including fluoroquinolones, sulfonamides and azoles 10. Anticancer agents, including anti-metabolites, natural products, antitumor antibiotics and alkylating agents


Syllabus