The Medicinal Chemistry Syllabus of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) is as follows:

MC-510 Basics of Drug Action (2 credits)
1. Structure: 2D vs 3D. Structure vs. Electronic structure. Electronic structure of ketenes and its
importance in reactivity. Diels-Alder reaction, Symmetry using group theory. Graph theory and
2D structure.
2. Energy: Energy concept and its importance in drug action. First, Second and Third laws of
thermodynamics and the principles derived from these laws which are of significance to drug
action.
3. Thermodynamics: Free energy and Relationship between thermodynamics and statistics.
Importance of chemical potential in drug action. Thermodynamic cycle. Statistical
thermodynamics in predicting the structure of biomolecules and their interaction with drug
molecules. Macromolecular vs. micromolecular correlation using thermodynamics and
statistical thermodynamics.
4. Interactions: Inter- and intramolecular interactions. Weak interactions in drug molecules. Chirality
and drug action. Covalent, ion-ion, ion-dipole, Hydrogen bonding, C-H hydrogen bonding,
dihydrogen bonding, Van derWaals interactions and the associated energies.
5. Receptorology: Drug-receptor interactions, Receptor theories and drug action: Occupancy
Theory, Rate Theory, Induced Fit Theory, Macromolecular perturbation theory, ActivationAggregation
theory. Topological and stereochemical consideration.
6. Enzyme Kinetics: enzyme kinetics in drug action. Do all molecules of an enzyme have same
kinetics? Mechanisms of enzyme catalysis, Electrostatic catalysis and desolvation. Covalent
catalysis, Acid-base catalysis, Strain / distortion in enzyme catalysis. Coenzyme catalysis.
7. Enzyme Inhibition: Drug action through enzyme inhibition. Examples based on PDE4, GSK3,
etc. Theories of enzyme inhibition and inactivation. Enzyme activation of drugs prodrugs.
8. Nucleic acids: NA as targets for drug action. NA-interactive agents. Classes of drugs that
interact with nucleic acids. Intercalation, NA-alkylation, NA-strand breaking and their importance
in drug action.
9. Drug likeness: Drug like molecules and theories associated with the recognition of drug like
properties. Physical organic chemistry of Drug metabolism, drug deactivation and elimination.
10. Drug action after Metabolism: Phase I and Phase II transformations. Concept of hard and soft
drugs. Chemistry of ADME and Toxicity properties of drugs.

Attached Files

NIPER Medicinal Chemistry Syllabus.pdf (35.4 KB, 64 views)