VCP3021 - Medicinal chemistry III A

Leader: Dr Edward Lloyd

Offered

Parkville First semester 2007 (Day)

Synopsis

Drug design. Drugs affecting the central nervous system. Steroids and prostaglandins. Pharmacodynamic agents. Enzyme inhibitors as drugs. Peptides and proteins. Pharmaceutical biotechnology. Practical classes cover the synthesis, identification, characterisation and metabolism of compounds of medicinal interest and computer based studies of structure-activity relationships and drug design.

Objectives

Students will develop an:

• Understanding of the relationship between the chemical structure and biological activity of drugs and endogenous substances; mechanisms of drug action at a molecular level; the physiochemical basis for drug delivery; absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs from a chemical perspective.
• Ability in the area of recognising drug moieties important for drug-receptor interactions; applying chemical rationale to devising alternative forms of drug presentation; using chromatographic techniques for therapeutic drug monitoring.
• Appreciation of modern drug design and development; computer-graphics techniques in pharmaceutical science; the chemical basis for drug toxicity and drug interactions; biological applications of spectroscopic techniques.

Assessment

End of semester exam (2 hours)
The end of semester paper examines material covered in the lectures and tutorials (100%)

Contact hours

The course comprises 20 hours of lectures and 4 hours of tutorials.

Prerequisites

All 2nd year B.Pharm units.