Chapter 1
Concepts of Drug Design
INTRODUCTION
The discovery or design of new drugs requires a design process along with the synthetic techniques, methods
of administration, development of tests, and further procedures to establish pharmacodynamics and their
toxicological assessment. The diversity in synthetic chemistry is ever increasing as a result of the increase
in the number of chemical compounds, which requires a sequence of screening modules with appropriate
time consumption and affidavits little success. These consequences made it necessary to find out the pos
sibilities for the development of new, logical, and scientific approaches in the discovery of new molecules or
drugs and came to be known as drug designing.
Drug design is an integrated advancing discipline, in which a biologically active molecule is produced
by chemical synthesis followed by an evaluation of its activity and toxicological studies with the limitation
of trial-and-error screening. In the broader sense, it implies the random evaluation of congeners produced
from the lead molecule either by implementing tailor-made techniques or by applying the basic concepts of
physicochemical properties to produce an able molelcule.
DESIGN OF ANALOGUES AND PRODRUGS
Drug design involves the development of analogues and prodrugs by some chemical modifications from
the lead molecule or from a parent compound by modifying the carbon skeletal transformation or by the
synthesis of compounds of the same nucleus with various substitutions. Analogues can also be synthesized
by changing the position of substitution group. For example, synthesis of trans-diethylstilbosterol by the
modification of oestradiol produced better oestrogenic activity than the latter one.
The term prodrug implies an appropriate derivative of a drug. The prodrugs are discovered by the
screening of active metabolites after in vivo biotransformation that are formed from parent compounds.
For example, phenylbutazone is transformed into oxyphenbutazone by hydroxylation reaction mediated by
phase I(nonsynthetic) metabolic reaction.
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44 Drug Design
DESIGN OFLEAD AND LEAD DISCOVERY
The concept of lead discovery envisages two investigational processes. They are:
1. Exploration of leads: search of new molecules.
2. Exploitation of leads: assessment, chemical modelling, and extension of leads.
The drug discoveries without alead are quiet few in number. The most prominent examples include peni
cillium and librium. Librium is the first benzodiazepine tranquillizer. A series of quinazoline-3-oxides
were synthesized by Leo Sternbach at Roche in a new tranquilizer development programme. None of the
molecules produced reliable pharmacological activity. One of the molecules that had been missed and
identified while a laboratory clean up was happening, found to posses probable activity and chemically it
was benzodiazepine-4-oxide. It produced chloromethyl quinazoline-3-oxide with methylamine. This lead
identification was further exploited to develop potent analogues such as diazepam, which was found to be
10 times more potent than the lead.
Approaches to Lead Discovery
The lead identifications require a series of biological evaluation of the lead molecules. Once, after the iden
tification, it can be structurally modified, the potency and the activity are improved.
RANDOm SCREENING
The entire synthesized compounds or any chemical constituents obtained from natural products are evalu
ated in a series for their biologically active components. Thus, random screening may produce unexpected
active medicines. Antibiotics, such as streptomycin, tetramycins, and fungal metabolites, such as lovastatin
and cyclosporins, were found through this method. This approach needs more manpower, and it is expen
sive and time-consuming and the success rate is considerably low.
NONRANDOM SCREENING
In this method, only compounds that poSsess similar structural skeletons were evaluated from their
particular properties.
PHARMACOKINETIC STUDIES
Biotransformation occurs as the fate by metabolizing enzymes. In order to develop new leads, the metabo
lites or biotransformed compounds are studied for their properties, and such studies are expected asses
the activity from a comparison with the parent molecule. For example, the discovery of sulphanilamide is
reported through the metabolic studies of prontosil.
PHARMACODYNAMIC STUDIES
The effects apart from the therapeutic actions, that is, side effects may lead to the finding out of a new
molecule with some appreciable structural modification. For example, sulphonamide used specifically for
the treatment of typhoid, lowered the blood sugar levels drastically. This exerted action led to the finding
of aryl sulphonyl thiourea moiety responsible for the lowering of blood glucose level. Amino alkyl deriva
tives of iminodibenzyl were synthesized as analgesic, sedative, and antihistamines that was found to posses
antidepressive action. This lead to the synthesis of many tricyclic antidepressants.
Concepts of Drug Design 45
48 Drug Design
RATIONAL APPROACH TO DRUG DESIGN
There are many approaches to drug designing in relation with physiochemical parameters and electronic
features taken into consideration for designing a drug. These are as follows:
1. Approach with quantum mechanics: This, also called as wave mechanics, comprises the fundamen
tal physicalproperties ofa molecule. These include the properties of protons, neutrons, and elec
trons, which are explained by quantum mechanics. The basis of drug molecule nature is altered by
chemical alterations of the electronic features.
2. Approach with molecular orbital theory: This approach depicts the change in properties that shal
be made by the alteration of orbits. Based on this, the electrons present in the molecules are linked
with orbitals to change the electronic feature. The molecular orbital approach is the change on elec
tronic charges, evidenced from the investigation of three volatile inhalation anaesthetics, and also
on molecular conformation, as studied with respect to acetylcholine, in regard to bond lengths and
angles including torsional angles. These interpretations are carried out by computational methods in
respect to structure activity relationship (SAR).
3. Approach with molecular connectivity: This is based on the structural features of a molecule. All
seteric and electronic parameters varies according to their configuration. These includes cyclization,
unsaturation, presence of heteroatom, skeletal branching, and position in molecules with the aid of
numerical indices and the series of functional attachments.
4. Approach of linear free-energy: Linear free energy approach was based on the selection of physi
ochemical parameters of a molecule with a specific biological activity. But the biological activity
may vary in relation to the physiochemical properties of the drug or molecule and does not providea
prompt success, but it may reveal some beneficial features regarding the molecule.
