- Email: [email protected]
Medicinal chemistry, a biochemical approach
488
New hope for drug design based on drug action Medicinal Chemistry, A Biochemical Approach edited by Thomas Nogrady, Oxford University Press, 1985. £18.50 ISBN 0 19 503400 7 The stated purpose of this book is to 'lead to a mature, exact and predictive science of molecular pharmacology and rational drug design'. The basis for this is the elucidation of the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of drug action that have occurred over the past 25 years. Although the picture is not complete for many drug categories, the book succeeds very well in presenting the present level of understanding for most of the major drug categories. The author is to be commended for putting together a very readable account of evidence, for mechanisms of drug actions drawn from a variety of disciplines: biochemisty, molecular pharmacology, physiology, and other aspects of biology. Burger, in his comprehensive treatise on medicinal chemistry (1970), stated that medicinal chemistry 'tries to be based on the ever-increasing hope that biochemical rationales for drug discovery may be found'. The present work by Nogrady is also based on this premise, and in the 15 years since Burger's statement, a surprising amount of information of this kind has been found. The time is appropriate, therefore, for a book of the scope of Nogrady's to be published, and it should be welcomed by medicinal chemists, pharmacologists, biologists, and others for whom an interest in understanding drug action at the molecular level is of the first order. Whether it may serve as a basis for rational drug design is, of course, dependent on future findings, both of empirical and biologybased experimentation. A description of the organization of this work should be of value. The opening chapter on 'Physicochemical principles of drug action' includes the now customary material on physical,
TIPS - December 1985
stereochemical, and electronic properties influencing drug behavior, along with chemical bonding and quantum chemical structure-activity relationships. This is followed by a concise treatment of 'Receptor-effector theories and methods of receptor characterization'. The following three chapters, covering about 250 pages, represent the major aspects of this approach to medicinal chemistry, and include 'Drugs acting on neurotransmitters and their receptors', 'Drugs acting on hormones, neurohormones and their receptors' and 'Non-messenger targets for drug action'. These chapters provide a thoroughly contemporary treatment of the mechanisms of action, as understood so far, of most of the major classes of drugs. The last named chapter includes material on drug action on membranes, cell wall synthesis, enzymes, vitamins, and nucleic acids. These chapters are well done and constitute a definite advance in the treatment of medicinal chemistry. It should be pointed out, however, that
Tea, coffee: expensive habits Progress in Clinical and Biological Research Vol. 158 The Methylxanthine Beverages and Foods: Chemistry, Consumption, and Health Effects edited by Gene A. Spiller, Alan R. Liss, Inc., 1984. £60.00 ISBN 0 8451 5008 1 The interdisciplinary nature of this volume means that it will be of interest to a wide range of readers. There are 16 chapters which range from economic botany through analytical chemistry to pharmacology. The opening chapter presents an overview on the methylxanthine beverages and foods, dealing with their effect on health and serves as an appetiser for the main courses of the other 15 chapters. Chapters two and three review the chemistry, isolation, biosynthesis and analysis of the methylxanthines with references up to 1983. Chapter four is a fascinating account of tea, being devoted to
along with a greater understanding of drug action at the molecular level has come a view of increasing complexity, and the fond hope of simple structure-activity relationships as the basis for future drug design has all but disappeared. In regard to the printing of the book, the sections under discussion are clearly differentiated by headings, the illustrations are quite clear, and the structures follow conventional design. A useful feature of the book is the inclusion of 'Selected readings" following each major section of a chapter; references to primary sources are not given, but the selected readings should prove adequate. There are also two appendices: 'Drugs arranged by generic name', including solubility and dosage data; and 'Drugs arranged by pharmacological activity'. Structures are found in the main body of the text. The book should prove useful to chemists and biologists, with an interest in drug actions for some time to come. WILLIAM
O. F O Y E
The author is Sawyer Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, 179 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
the plant, its chemistry and the consumption of this well known beverage. The British are regarded as a nation of tea drinkers and the statistics presented support this view, with an annual per capita consumption of 3.14 kg, contrasting with 0.35 kg in the USA. Coffee forms the subject of chapters five and six, which are split into the plant and its processing, based on nineteen references and its chemical composition with over 160 references. In case there be any doubts, there is considerably more to the average cup of coffee than a dose of pleasantly flavoured caffeine. Methylxanthine composition and consumption patterns of cocoa and chocolate products form the subject of chapter seven and in case you are unaware, top of the league in chocolate and cocoa consumption are the Swiss who consumed 3.7 kg per capita in 1981 contrasting with the Russian 0.5 kg. Mate is the subject of a short chapter even though world production is in excess of 200 000 tons per annum. Caffeine consumption
New hope for drug design based on drug action Medicinal Chemistry, A Biochemical Approach edited by Thomas Nogrady, Oxford University Press, 1985. £18.50 ISBN 0 19 503400 7 The stated purpose of this book is to 'lead to a mature, exact and predictive science of molecular pharmacology and rational drug design'. The basis for this is the elucidation of the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of drug action that have occurred over the past 25 years. Although the picture is not complete for many drug categories, the book succeeds very well in presenting the present level of understanding for most of the major drug categories. The author is to be commended for putting together a very readable account of evidence, for mechanisms of drug actions drawn from a variety of disciplines: biochemisty, molecular pharmacology, physiology, and other aspects of biology. Burger, in his comprehensive treatise on medicinal chemistry (1970), stated that medicinal chemistry 'tries to be based on the ever-increasing hope that biochemical rationales for drug discovery may be found'. The present work by Nogrady is also based on this premise, and in the 15 years since Burger's statement, a surprising amount of information of this kind has been found. The time is appropriate, therefore, for a book of the scope of Nogrady's to be published, and it should be welcomed by medicinal chemists, pharmacologists, biologists, and others for whom an interest in understanding drug action at the molecular level is of the first order. Whether it may serve as a basis for rational drug design is, of course, dependent on future findings, both of empirical and biologybased experimentation. A description of the organization of this work should be of value. The opening chapter on 'Physicochemical principles of drug action' includes the now customary material on physical,
TIPS - December 1985
stereochemical, and electronic properties influencing drug behavior, along with chemical bonding and quantum chemical structure-activity relationships. This is followed by a concise treatment of 'Receptor-effector theories and methods of receptor characterization'. The following three chapters, covering about 250 pages, represent the major aspects of this approach to medicinal chemistry, and include 'Drugs acting on neurotransmitters and their receptors', 'Drugs acting on hormones, neurohormones and their receptors' and 'Non-messenger targets for drug action'. These chapters provide a thoroughly contemporary treatment of the mechanisms of action, as understood so far, of most of the major classes of drugs. The last named chapter includes material on drug action on membranes, cell wall synthesis, enzymes, vitamins, and nucleic acids. These chapters are well done and constitute a definite advance in the treatment of medicinal chemistry. It should be pointed out, however, that
Tea, coffee: expensive habits Progress in Clinical and Biological Research Vol. 158 The Methylxanthine Beverages and Foods: Chemistry, Consumption, and Health Effects edited by Gene A. Spiller, Alan R. Liss, Inc., 1984. £60.00 ISBN 0 8451 5008 1 The interdisciplinary nature of this volume means that it will be of interest to a wide range of readers. There are 16 chapters which range from economic botany through analytical chemistry to pharmacology. The opening chapter presents an overview on the methylxanthine beverages and foods, dealing with their effect on health and serves as an appetiser for the main courses of the other 15 chapters. Chapters two and three review the chemistry, isolation, biosynthesis and analysis of the methylxanthines with references up to 1983. Chapter four is a fascinating account of tea, being devoted to
along with a greater understanding of drug action at the molecular level has come a view of increasing complexity, and the fond hope of simple structure-activity relationships as the basis for future drug design has all but disappeared. In regard to the printing of the book, the sections under discussion are clearly differentiated by headings, the illustrations are quite clear, and the structures follow conventional design. A useful feature of the book is the inclusion of 'Selected readings" following each major section of a chapter; references to primary sources are not given, but the selected readings should prove adequate. There are also two appendices: 'Drugs arranged by generic name', including solubility and dosage data; and 'Drugs arranged by pharmacological activity'. Structures are found in the main body of the text. The book should prove useful to chemists and biologists, with an interest in drug actions for some time to come. WILLIAM
O. F O Y E
The author is Sawyer Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, 179 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
the plant, its chemistry and the consumption of this well known beverage. The British are regarded as a nation of tea drinkers and the statistics presented support this view, with an annual per capita consumption of 3.14 kg, contrasting with 0.35 kg in the USA. Coffee forms the subject of chapters five and six, which are split into the plant and its processing, based on nineteen references and its chemical composition with over 160 references. In case there be any doubts, there is considerably more to the average cup of coffee than a dose of pleasantly flavoured caffeine. Methylxanthine composition and consumption patterns of cocoa and chocolate products form the subject of chapter seven and in case you are unaware, top of the league in chocolate and cocoa consumption are the Swiss who consumed 3.7 kg per capita in 1981 contrasting with the Russian 0.5 kg. Mate is the subject of a short chapter even though world production is in excess of 200 000 tons per annum. Caffeine consumption