Structure-Based Drug Design [antikvár]

Preface Drug design and development is an organized effort by scientists from many disciplines. Previously, drugs were designed by systematic modification of a chemical precursor, using standard methods of medicinal chemistry, based on cycles of synthesis and testing. It has been the dream of many medicinal chemists to be able to design drugs in a more rational way, based on the structural details of the target sites. This dream is made possible by structural biology-based techniques, by which the three-dimensional structure of target molecules and the compounds with which they interact can be visualized. On the basis of the conformation of ligands and their interaction with target molecules, new chemical compounds can be designed to intensify a drug's characteristics. Technological developments in the field of structural science, such as high-power radiation sources, robotics equipment, magnets with powerful field strength, faster computer chips, and better graphics visualization tools, have considerably reduced the obstacles to and improved the efficiency of determining the three-dimensional structure of target molecules. The recent revolution in the computer chip industry has provided fast desktop computers with larger storage capacity. Affordable personal computers are making structural biology much easier. It is now possible to have a high-speed computmg laboratory at home. In this respect, Internet-based applications are starting to play a major role in the future. These developments will solve many problems that were previously beyond reach. These techniques enable the drug designer to visualize compounds interacting with the target molecule's drug-binding site, analyze them in detail, and evaluate the forces involved in their interaction. Visualization and analysis can reveal the subtle differences in binding between successive members of a series of compounds and conformational changes induced in the target molecule as a result of binding. This information derived in combination with in vitro and iii