We are essentially done with the first part of the course -- a look at things related to pharmacokinetics (PK).  We now begin to look at the second part of medicinal chemistry -- pharmacodynamics (PD).  This area looks at what the drug does to the body, and we hope that whatever the drug does is therapeutic.  In order to understand PD concepts, you need some understanding of the molecules with which drugs interact.  These molecules are proteins, so we'll spend several weeks looking at protein structures and computational tools that help us explore these structures. 

During this session, we continue our discussion of solubility, hydrophilicity, and lipophilicity.  This time, we look at the role of acid-base chemistry in these areas, with a look at pKa, the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, and ionizable/non-ionizable compounds.  In the lab, you are asked to do a detailed analysis of 9 experimental drugs, evaluating them for their ability to absorb in both an aqueous and lipid environment.  

The case study for this week is COMPLICATED and LENGTHY, and requires the use of the computational chemistry server.  You are encouraged to get an EARLY start, so you don't get stuck in the queue.  Not only is the data collection a lengthy process, but there is substantial data analysis to do for this case study.  

The reading for this week is short, but the WebAssign asks questions from both the reading and the lecture/podcast.  Lecture notes are also now available for download, which I would recommend to help you with the WebAssign activity.

After a challenging but I hope successful residential weekend, we'll spend this week continuing to look at some of the basics of organic chemistry, but with an eye towards their role in drug chemistry.  In the lecture, I'll be talking about how the different functional groups bind to receptors -- which is the primary way that drugs work, by binding to receptor sites in the body.  In the lab, you'll be asked to evaluate a series of (mostly) organic substituents, looking to determine how those substituents affect some basic drug properties, such as lipophilicity (logP) and solubility in water (logSw).  In that lab, you'll have to use your analyzed data to modify a drug, and learn how to prepare a technical memo.