theme 1: brief history of drug discovery Flashcards
Define medicinal chemistry
a branch of chemistry focusing on drug design, synthesis and development in collaboration with biochemistry and pharmacology
what is the weight of most medicinal drugs
low molecular weight (<500Da)
what are alkaloids
class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom.
what is semisynthesis
type of chemical synthesis that uses chemical compounds isolated from natural sources
define pka
a measure of how tighty an acid holds onto a proton. so lower pka means it gives up the proton easier
what woud the pka of a strong base look like and give an example of a strong base
high pka - conjugate acid doesnt give up electron easily. example tertiary amine
what is the equation for pka
-log ka
what woud the pka of a strong acid look like
low pka - good proton donor
what does empirical formula tell us
what functional groups are present in different molecules and therefore how these molecules differ in terms of the elements of their structure
name some methods of investigating compound properties
IR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, x-ray
what is total synthesis
the specialized area within organic chemistry focuses on constructing complex organic compounds, especially those found in nature, using laboratory methods from simple commercially available precursor molecules
what are some examples of macromolecular targets
enzymes, receptors, nucleic acids in DNA/RNA
