Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 14: Molecular Connectivity in Chemistry and Drug Research is a 10-chapter text that focuses on the molecular connectivity approach for quantitative evaluation of molecular structure of drugs. Molecular connectivity is a nonempirical derivation of numerical value that encode within them sufficient information to relate to many physicochemical and biological properties. This book outlines first the development of molecular connectivity approach, followed by considerable chapters on its application to evaluation of physicochemical properties of drugs. Other chapters explore the application of molecular connectivity to structure-activity studies in medicinal chemistry. The final chapters provide some reflections, challenges, and potential areas of investigation of molecular connectivity. Advanced undergraduate or graduate students in medicinal chemistry or pharmacology, practicing scientists, and theoretical chemists will find this book invaluable.

Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 10: Molecular Orbital Theory in Drug Research is a 12-chapter text that emerged from a series of lectures presented to graduate students in medicinal chemistry at the University of Michigan. After dealing with the general considerations of drug phenomena and quantum theory, this book goes on exploring the various molecular orbital calculation methods and the significance of molecular orbital indices. The subsequent chapters on the applications of molecular orbital theory are organized on the basis of physical chemical phenomena concluded from the studies described to be involved in the biological activity. These chapters also look into the correlations between indices reflecting covalent bond formation and biological activity. This text further examines the charge transfer mechanisms of several drug classes. The remaining chapters are devoted to the use of molecular orbital theory in several aspects of drug research, including molecular conformation, acid-base phenomena, hydrogen bonding, and dispersion forces. This work is directed to the advanced undergraduate or graduate students in medicinal chemistry or pharmacology, as well as to the practicing scientists interested in acquiring some understanding of molecular orbital theory. Theoretical chemists seeking information on biological phenomena amenable to semiempirical molecular orbital study will find this book invaluable.

Describes molecular connectivity as a structure-based approach to biological quantitative structure activity (QSAR). Significant advances which have occured over the last 10 years in methodology and its signifiance are covered along with more recent advances in the area of electronic description Some examples of quantitative structure-activity relationships are presented which reveal the value of the method in biological studies. New research is presented, particularly in the areas of shape definition, aromaticity, and molecular flexibility.

Small Molecule Drug Discovery: Methods, Molecules and Applications presents the methods used to identify bioactive small molecules, synthetic strategies and techniques to produce novel chemical entities and small molecule libraries, chemoinformatics to characterize and enumerate chemical libraries, and screening methods, including biophysical techniques, virtual screening and phenotypic screening. The second part of the book gives an overview of privileged cyclic small molecules and major classes of natural product-derived small molecules, including carbohydrate-derived compounds, peptides and peptidomimetics, and alkaloid-inspired compounds. The last section comprises an exciting collection of selected case studies on drug discovery enabled by small molecules in the fields of cancer research, CNS diseases and infectious diseases. The discovery of novel molecular entities capable of specific interactions represents a significant challenge in early drug discovery. Small molecules are low molecular weight organic compounds that include natural products and metabolites, as well as drugs and other xenobiotics. When the biological target is well defined and understood, the rational design of small molecule ligands is possible. Alternatively, small molecule libraries are being used for unbiased assays for complex diseases where a target is unknown or multiple factors contribute to a disease pathology. - Outlines modern concepts and synthetic strategies underlying the building of small molecules and their chemical libraries useful for drug discovery - Provides modern biophysical methods to screening small molecule libraries, including high-throughput screening, small molecule microarrays, phenotypic screening and chemical genetics - Presents the most advanced chemoinformatics tools to characterize the structural features of small molecule libraries in terms of chemical diversity and complexity, also including the application of virtual screening approaches - Gives an overview of structural features and classification of natural product-derived small molecules, including carbohydrate derivatives, peptides and peptidomimetics, and alkaloid-inspired small molecules

Observing computational chemistry's proven value to the introduction of new medicines, this reference offers the techniques most frequently utilized by industry and academia for ligand design. Featuring contributions from more than fifty pre-eminent scientists, Computational Medicinal Chemistry for Drug Discovery surveys molecular structure computation, intermolecular behavior, ligand-receptor interaction, and modeling responding to market demands in its selection and authoritative treatment of topics. The book examines molecular mechanics, semi-empirical methods, wave function-based quantum chemistry, density functional theory, 3-D structure generation, and hybrid methods.