Recent Advances at the Interface of Medicinal and Combinatorial Chemistry. Views on Methodologies for the Generation and Evaluation of Diversity and Application to Molecular Recognition and Catalysis

Abstract

Abstract: Over the past two decades, medicinal chemistry has witnessed a fundamental renaissance with regards to the methodologies and approaches to drug design and discovery. Rational design based on compu­ tational chemistry and solid state structure of receptors and enzymes is still an important approach in this field. Unfortunately, bacterial, viral, and cell re­ sistance to drugs as well as the appearance of previously unknown diseases have dramatically increased the demand for new and more potent drugs. On the other hand, the random screening of chemical compounds from natural sources has not only become limited in terms of diversity but also in terms of general methodologies for the rapid identification of the potent molecule. For these reasons, combinatorial chemistry, the science of diversity and "rational screening", appears to be the natural direction in order to overcome these limitations. Combinatorial chemistry has attracted researchers from areas as remote as materials science and catalysis and will surely bring more advances in the future. In this review we will discuss the methods for the generation of diversity along with screening processes associated with these, some applications in medicinal chemistry, and molecular recognition and catalysis.