Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Question 1

What is a drug?

Answer 1

Any substance that alters the biochemical process of the body

Question 2

What is pharmacology?

Answer 2

The study of the effect of drugs on living organisms

Question 3

What drugs said to be?

Answer 3

pharmacologically active

Question 4

What are substances that have beneficial effect on the body said to be?

Answer 4

medicines

Question 5

What do medicines contain?

Answer 5

a small amount of the active ingredient and other substances such as starch and colouring.

Question 6

What do most medicines produce?

Answer 6

unwanted side-effects

Question 7

How do drugs work?

Answer 7

By binding to receptors on the surface of cells

Question 8

What is a receptor?

Answer 8

part of a very large protein molecule that can interact with a specific, biologically active molecule that occurs naturally in the body.

Question 9

Decribe how biologically active molecules can interact with receptors.

Answer 9

the active molecule will fit the shape, size and structure of the receptor site.

Question 10

What two functions can drug have?

Answer 10

to act as a catalyst for a specfic biochemical reactions, or act as enzyme inhibitors by blocking the active site of the enzyme

Question 11

What does the structural fragment of the drug which confers pharmacological activity consist of?

Answer 11

functional groups which bind to the receptor site

Question 12

What position must the functional groups on both the drug and receptor site be in?

Answer 12

correct relative positions

Question 13

What does bonding between functional groups in the active molecule and functioknal groups in the complex protein involve?

Answer 13

weak forces such as hydrogen bonding and weak electrostatic interactions

Question 14

What happens if the correct molecule binds to the receptor site?

Answer 14

it activates the cell and triggers a biological response within the cell. The active molecule then leaves the site without being chemically changed

Question 15

What does an agonist do?

Answer 15

interact with a receptor to produce a response similar to the body’s natural active compound

Question 16

What does an antagonist do?

Answer 16

interacts with a receptor to produce no response because it prevents the action of the body’s natural active compound

Question 17

What are most medicines and drugs?

Answer 17

complex molecules containing a variety of functional groups. Some of these groups may not be essential for binding to the receptor.

Question 18

For chemists trying to design new, more effective medicines, what is it useful to know?

Answer 18

the minimum structural requirements for a molecule to be pharmacologically active

Question 19

What is the structural fragment of the molecule that confers pharmacological activity called?

Answer 19

pharmacophore

Question 20

How can the pharmacophore be identified?

Answer 20

by comparing the structures of a number of medicines with similar pharmacological activity

Question 21

How can asthma attacks be releived?

Answer 21

By inhaling a bronchodilator, which widen the airways. The natural substance which performs this function is adrenaline, which is produced at nerve-endings to stimulate muscle activity.

Question 22

Why can adrenaline not be used for asthma attacks?

Answer 22

it has undesirable side-effects such as increasing blood pressure, heart rate and brain activity

Question 23

What was designed to be more effective than adrenaline?

Answer 23

salbutamol

Question 24

Why is salbutamol more effective than adrenaline?

Answer 24

Doesn’t cause the side effects that adrenaline does. It also lasts longers in the body as it is less easily metabolised.