Learning objectives
The course provides general principles of medicinal chemistry, evidencing the relationships between drug structure and their therapeutically relevant properties. The objective is to know and understand the basic chemical and toxicological issues for drugs, with focus on the classes exemplified in the course..
Specific objectives, following Dublin Descriptors, are:
1. Knowledge and understanding: for drug classes object of the course, it is required to know: names, formulas (for simpler compounds), source, use; to recognize complex formulas and understand SAR, chamical, physicochemical, toxicological and metabolic properties, synthesis.
2. Applying knowledge and understanding: for drugs explicitely treated and for similar ones, it is required to be able to: assign a name given a formula and vice versa; to predict chemical and physicochemical properties of drugs and discuss their possible impact on biological properties, including metabolism and toxicity; to propose and discuss possible routes for drug synthesis or production.
3. Making judgements: it is required to procuce proper comments about SARs, metabolism and related toxicity, drug production, chemical and metabolic drug-drug intearaction.
4. Communication skills: it is required to illustrate, also with an original approach, an issue presented during the lessons and to properly answer to questions, rebut criticisms and apply suggestions.
5. Learning skills: the student is expected to learn how to infer general rules (structure-activity and structure-property relationships) from actual cases (drugs), which can be classified following different criteria.; how to manage dynamically his own wealth of knowledge about drug chemistry and classification; how to search and critically assess information on drug structure and properties.
Prerequisites
- - -
Course unit content
In the first part general themes will be addressed, including drug nomenclature, principles of pharmacokinetics, metabolism and mechanism of action, as well as basics on structure-activity relationships. The second part will be focused on selected classes of antibacterials, antiviral and antitumor drugs.
Full programme
- - -
Bibliography
G.L. PATRICK: Introduzione alla chimica farmaceutica; Edises Napoli.
GASCO, GUALTIERI, MELCHIORRE: Chimica Farmaceutica II Ed.; Casa Editrice Ambrosiana.
Slides available on Elly.
Teaching methods
Teacher-led lessons with slide projection. Lesson recorings or other digital contents will be available on University platforms.
The general and specific items of the course will be presented, delivering the information essential for the comprehension of the issues treated. Trying to open dialogues with the students, it will be iluustrated how to build competences that can be applied to the study of different classes of drugs. These include the prediction of physico-chemical properties of drugs from their structure, the recognition of structural elements responsible for the mechanism of action and the recognition of alerting groups that may give aspecific toxicity related to their metabolism.
Assessment methods and criteria
The student achievements will be evaluated by oral examination. During the coronavirus emergency the examinations will be online by Teams.-
Questions from the eaxminator and discussion will aim at establishing if the objectives of knowledge and comprehension have been achieved and if the studen is able to explain clearly and correctly the subjects. Through specific questions, the ability to apply student's knowledge to problems regarding medicinal, farmaceutical or toxicological chemistry for drug classes will be assessed.
Other information
- - -
2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
- - -
