FA506: Medicinal Chemistry A

Study Board Pharmacy

Teaching language: Danish or English depending on the teacher, but English if international students are enrolled
EKA: N560010112, N560010102
Assessment: Second examiner: None, Second examiner: External
Grading: Pass/Fail, 7-point grading scale
Offered in: Odense
Offered in: Autumn
Level: Bachelor

STADS ID (UVA): N560010101
ECTS value: 5

Date of Approval: 25-04-2019


Duration: 1 semester

Version: Archive

Comment

03000801 (former UVA) is identical with this course description. 

Entry requirements

None

Academic preconditions

Students taking the course are expected to:

  • Have good knowledge of KE505 Organic chemistry A
  • Have knowledge of fundamental cell biology

Course introduction

The aim of the course is to give the student an overview over the central parts of medicinal chemistry, including the mechanism of action of active principles in drugs, and a more detailed insight in selected medicinal chemistry themes. The course will enable the student to integrate knowledge from organic chemistry, biology and molecular biology, toxicology, physiology and medicine. Furthermore, the course will train the students in critical reading of scientific literature and in scientific presentation.

The course builds on knowledge acquired from KE505 Organic chemistry and presumes basic knowledge of cell biology. Medicinal chemistry is highly interdisciplinary and will enable to student to integrate knowledge from other courses such as molecular biology, physiology and toxicology, and will introduce the student to an important area for applications of theoretical and practical organic chemistry. The course forms basis for further studies in medicinal chemistry and pharmacy, and for bachelor projects related to medicinal chemistry.

The course will also support other studies within chemistry.

In relation to the competence profile of the degree it is the explicit focus of the course to:

  • Give the competence to recognize interdisciplinary aspects and understand design and development of active drug principles.
  • Give skills to acquire new knowledge in an efficient and independent manner from lectures, textbook and scientific papers, and to reflectively, critically and analytically take advantage of this knowledge, to structure acquired information, describe, formulate and disseminate problems and results in a scientific context.
  • Give knowledge and understanding of important themes and terms in medicinal chemistry, overview over pharmaceutical compound classes, their metabolism and interactions, the physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of active drug principles, and insight in selected areas of modern medicinal chemistry.

Expected learning outcome

The learning objectives of the course is that the student demonstrates the ability to:
  • Demonstrate a broad overview  over medicinal compound classes
  • Explain and use important terms in medicinal chemistry, including agonism and antagonism, SAR, ADME, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
  • Explain the mechanism of action of representative drugs
  • Provide an overview of important molecular drug targets in the body
  • Draw the chemical structures of central signaling molecules and drugs
  • Provide an overview of, recognize and explain types of molecular interactions between the drug and the target
  • Formulate hypotheses for interactions between a given drug and a target and for how this interaction can be optimized
  • Provide an overview of and explain absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs and formulate hypotheses for how the chemical structure of a given drug can optimized with regard to these factors
  • Read and understand articles in the medicinal chemistry journals and critically analyze, interpret and explain the reported results.
  • Analyzed a dataset for a given compound series, form hypotheses for structure-activity relationships and formulate optimization strategies

Content

The following main topics are contained in the course:
  • Drugs and drug targets in general
  • Drug-target interactions
  • Proteins
  • Enzymes as drug targets
  • Receptors as drug targets
  • Pharmacokinetics
  • Drug discovery and development
  • Lead identification
  • Lead optimization – optimizing drug target interaction and pharmacokinetic properties
  • Antibacterial agents
  • Nucleic acids as drug targets
  • Antiviral agents
  • Anticancer drugs
  • The cholinergic system
  • The adrenergic system
  • Opioid analgesics
  • Antiulcer agents

Literature

Graham L. Patrick: An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry, 6th Ed, Oxford, 2017.
See Blackboard for syllabus lists and additional literature references.

Examination regulations

Prerequisites for participating in the exam a)

Timing

Autumn

Tests

Group presentation of articles

EKA

N560010112

Assessment

Second examiner: None

Grading

Pass/Fail

Identification

Full name and SDU username

Language

Normally, the same as teaching language

Examination aids

To be announced during the course

ECTS value

0

Additional information

The prerequisite examination is a prerequisite for participation in exam element a)

Exam element a)

Timing

January

Prerequisites

Type Prerequisite name Prerequisite course
Examination part Prerequisites for participating in the exam a) N560010101, FA506: Medicinal Chemistry A

Tests

Written exam

EKA

N560010102

Assessment

Second examiner: External

Grading

7-point grading scale

Identification

Student Identification Card

Language

Normally, the same as teaching language

Duration

3 hours

Examination aids

Allowed, a closer description of the exam rules will be posted under Course Information on Blackboard.

ECTS value

5

Additional information

The examination form for re-examination may be different from the exam form at the regular exam.

Indicative number of lessons

45 hours per semester

Teaching Method

Activities during the study phase:
  • Studies of the textbook
  • Written exercises
  • Studies of scientific articles
  • Preparations of article presentations in groups
  • Repetitions for the exam

Teacher responsible

Name E-mail Department
Stefan Vogel snv@sdu.dk

Timetable

Administrative Unit

Fysik, kemi og Farmaci

Team at Educational Law & Registration

NAT

Offered in

Odense

Recommended course of study

Profile Education Semester Offer period