Description

Undergraduate education in Medicinal Chemistry seems to be in the midst of a major revolution in India. Sophisticated topics are increasingly being introduced into the college chemistry courses. In Medicinal Chemistry, this trend is apparent in the new text books. However, it has been found that a single text, no matter how well written, is not the best medium of presenting glimpses of these sophisticated topics in addition to the necessary basic chemistry.In the past few decades there has been a hiatus in the momentum of research and discovery of 'novel medicinal compounds'. This particular trend in drug development perhaps is augmented due to two vital factors, namely: first, strict empirical and rational approach to drug design; and secondly, high standards of safety and therapeutic efficacy together with tremendous increased costs of research and development and finally the clinical trials. Drug design' or 'tailor-made compound' aims at developing a drug with high degree of chemotherapeutic index and specific action. It is a logical effort to design a drug on as much a rational basis as possible thus reducing to the minimum the trial and error approach.