The Influence of Conformational Isomerism on Drug Action and Design

COURSE INFORMATION The following text is a summary of a two-hour lecture sequence presented in the course, Advanced Medicinal Chemistry I. This course is required for all MS and PhD students in Duquesne University’s Medicinal Chemistry Graduate Program. It is also available as an elective for undergraduate students in their last semester of didactic work. The course emphasizes the basic chemical principles which underlie drug design. The lectures on conformational isomerism are constructed to emphasize several principles: (i) the identification and significance of conformational isomers; (ii) the differences between preferred and active conformations; and (iii) the advantages and disadvantages of conformational restriction. While the material included in this paper is presented in the traditional lecture style, computer based assignments using the molecular modeling software program ALCHEMY have been used to reinforce the concepts. Reports detailing the use of ALCHEMY to teach stereochemical principles have previously appeared in the Journal(1,2).