Medicinal chemistry articles from across Nature Portfolio

Medicinal chemistry deals with the design, optimization and development of chemical compounds for use as drugs. It is inherently a multidisciplinary topic — beginning with the synthesis of potential drugs followed by studies investigating their interactions with biological targets to understand the medicinal effects of the drug, its metabolism and side-effects.

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  • News & Views |

    A modular and general method to make unprotected aryl C-glycosides with high stereoselectivity from simple starting materials has been developed based on photoredox, Ni-catalysed cross-coupling. Key to success is the use of an allyl glycosyl sulfone in combination with tolyl sulfinate as the synthetic equivalent of a glycosyl anion.

    Nature Synthesis 2, 207-208

  • Research Highlights |

    Enzyme-activatable chemokine probes have been shown to selectively target tumour-associated macrophages for the first time.

    • Natalie G. Barnes
    Nature Reviews Chemistry 6, 678

  • News & Views |

    Malleicyprols are highly reactive polyketides responsible for virulence in some pathogenic bacteria. Now, the enzyme that constructs the cyclopropanol warhead of malleicyprols has been identified. This enzyme could represent a useful target for developing new antivirulence therapeutics.

    • Elijah Abraham
    •  & Rebecca A. Butcher
    Nature Chemistry 14, 848-850

  • News & Views |

    Though HER2 (ERBB2) exon 20 insertion mutations occur in ~2% of non-small-cell lung cancers, molecular targeted therapies for such cancers have been lacking. A study now identifies selective HER2 inhibitors that have marked efficacy against tumors driven by HER2 exon 20 insertions, without inhibiting wild-type EGFR activity.

    • Ryohei Katayama
    Nature Cancer 3, 785-786
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