Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry

General information

         A definition of medicinal chemistry was given by a IUPAC specialized commission: “Medicinal chemistry concerns the discovery, the development, the identification and the interpretation of the mode of action of biologically active compounds at the molecular level. Emphasis is put on drugs, but the interests of the medicinal chemist are not restricted to drugs but include bioactive compounds in general. Medicinal chemistry is also concerned with the study, identification, and synthesis of the metabolic products of these drugs and related compounds, building the relationships between the chemical structure and the biological activity (SAR).

The Department’s staff include: 

        In academia, medicinal chemistry is a major subject in most pharmacy faculties—both for undergraduates and in research—and in many chemistry faculties. Medicinal chemistry is an interdisciplinary science covering a particularly wide domain situated at the interface of organic chemistry with life sciences such as biochemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, genetics, immunology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology on one side, and chemistry-based disciplines such as physical chemistry, crystallography, spectroscopy, and computer-based techniques of simulation, data analysis, and data visualization on the other side. 

Medicinal chemistry is the important subjects classified by the Ministry of Education and Training of  Viet Nam. It is the basis of other such as pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical analysis…

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry is responsible for the teaching of both full-time and part-time students.

Learning objectives: 

           Presented research directions of medicinal chemistry in the preparation and research of certain new pharmaceutical ingredients, contributing to quality assurance and using the efficacy and safety of drugs.

           Presented the chemical structure; the relationship between the chemical structure and the properties; and the mechanism of action of drugs. Applying physical and chemical properties in the preparation, storage and use of drugs.

          Synthesis and semi-synthesis of certain common drugs, analyze the pharmaceutical ingredients according to the standard of the Viet Nam Pharmacopoeia.

Research 

           The research is well developed in the Department of Medical Chemistry with good results. The Department has published many articles in both local and foreign scientific journals. The Department's research is in the following directions:

• Synthesis and evaluate biological activity of some derivatives such as chalcone, benzofurane, benzothiazole…
• Synthesis of pharmaceutical ingredients at laboratory scale
• Isolation and Semi-synthesis of natural products.
• Computer-aided drug design uses computational approaches to discover, develop, and analyze drugs and similar biologically active molecules.
• Books 

Medicinal Chemistry I – author : Minh-Tri Le – Thi-Ngoc-Phuong Huynh, Viet Nam education publishing house, 2010

Medicinal Chemistry II - author: Phuong Truong – Thanh-Dao Tran, Viet Nam education publishing house, 2009

Reference   

Medicinal Chemistry and Techniques of Synthesis I. Dinh-Chau Phan. Science and Technics Publishing House – Ha Noi, 2011

Foye's Principles of Medicinal Chemistry, 7th Edition. David A. Williams. LWW. 2012