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Course Description: The mission of the Pharmaceutical Chemistry course is

to introduce students to the structure, properties, and analysis (both qualitative
and quantitative) of drug molecules and their metabolites.

Topics include some of the basic concepts in medicinal chemistry as well as

methods of pharmaceutical and bio
medical analysis such as 1) the drug discovery and development process, 2)
review of organic functional groups found in drug molecules, 3) drug-target
interactions, 4) physicochemical properties related to drug action such as acid-
base properties, equilibrium, and stereochemistry, 5) chemical aspects of drug
metabolism, 6) chromatographic separation and spectroscopic identification of
organic compounds and drug metabolites, and 7) inorganic drugs and
oxidizing germicides. The analytical techniques covered in this course are of
great importance to the clinical laboratories and the pharmaceutical industry
(e.g. spectroscopy, chromatography).

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Mission
and
Vision

Vision

The School envisions becoming the premier School of Pharmacy in South

Africa and the African continent through critical engagement in
pharmaceutically and socially relevant education and training, research and
service.

Mission

The School seeks to achieve excellence in the education and training of

pharmacists, equipping Pharmacy graduates to meet the present and
future pharmaceutical health care needs of the country in all spheres of
Pharmacy, viz., community/retail, hospital, industry, academia and
research and development.

The mission and vision of the School are reflected in its objectives, which
are:

• To produce pharmacy graduates who, in order to achieve optimal

therapeutic outcomes, will be responsible for the appropriate use
of medications and devices; the design of dosage forms; the
compounding of medicines; and the provision of appropriate
healthcare services.
• To produce pharmacy graduates who, together with other
members of the healthcare team, will take an active role in
appropriate drug choices for patients, and who will assume
responsibility for the empowerment of patients to achieve the
desired outcomes of drug and related therapies.
• To produce pharmacy graduates, who will provide a
comprehensive pharmaceutical health service, which includes
preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative care, and which
is relevant and appropriate to community served.
• To inculcate an ethical approach to all patients, as well as an
awareness of the patient and his/her illness in a holistic setting,
including family and social relationships.
• To produce pharmacy graduates who will collaborate and other
health professionals and share in responsibilities for the outcomes
of drug and related therapies.
• To promote undergraduate and postgraduate research in the
pharmaceutical sciences and relevant social sciences, which will,
inter alia, ensure the provision of a more affordable, accessible and
appropriate pharmaceutical health service to all South Africans.
• To encourage staff and students to contribute to pharmaceutical
health planning and to the formulation of rational drug policies.
• To offer continuing and supplementary pharmaceutical education
programmes for pharmacists and other health personnel.
• To undertake an on-going process of curriculum review to ensure
the relevance of the departmental academic programme to

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Lecture Schedule for Spring 2007 (PDF File)

Course Policy for Spring 2007 (PDF file)

Pharmaceutical Chemistry is an area of chemistry focused on the development,

production, and delivery of drugs used to prevent, cure, and relieve symptoms of
disease. Pharmaceutical chemists may synthesize new drugs, or modify older drugs
so that they have improved therapeutic value, are less toxic, or have improved
stability. The need to demonstrate safety, bioavailability, and effectiveness of all new
drugs, as mandated by the FDA, places unique quality control requirements on all
aspects of the drug manufacturing and distribution process. To meet these
requirements, pharmaceutical chemists also develop improved analytical techniques
for monitoring the levels of drugs in the body and to ascertain the safety and
potency of the drugs on the pharmacy shelf.

Your Future in Pharmaceutical Chemistry

The demand is strong for professionals with expertise in pharmaceutical chemistry.

You can pursue rewarding positions in:

• Pharmaceutical firms
• Government laboratories such as the Food and Drug Administration, the
Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the
National Institutes of Health
• Industrial settings, where you may function as part of a drug development
team or work in production, quality control, or sales

Pharmaceutical Chemistry B.S.

1. General description and characteristics of the program.
Pharmaceutical Chemistry is the study of the molecular and
mechanistic aspects
of pharmaceuticals. The discipline emphasizes the chemistry of drug
design and
development, drug action, drug transport, drug delivery, and targeting.
The development
of new pharmaceuticals is critically dependent on a molecular-level
understanding of
biological processes and mechanisms of drug action. Progress in the
field now depends

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on the design and synthesis of new molecules using tools such as

structure activity
relationships, combinatorial chemistry, and computer-aided drug
design. In recent years
rational design of drugs tuned to specific target sites is becoming a
reality due to
concurrent advances in chemistry and biology, including elucidation of
the human
genome. Chemists continue to be at the forefront of drug design,
synthesis, testing, and
development. A bachelor’s program in Pharmaceutical Chemistry will
emphasize the
molecular basis underlying the creation of new drugs and health
applications of bioactive
compounds. The proposed program will prepare students to fully and
confidently
participate in health and biomedical careers.
2. Rationale
The pharmaceutical industry is a major employer of chemists; in recent
years
more than 20% of graduates with BS and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry
work in the
pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical companies need employees
with strong skills in
modern chemical techniques as well as a good understanding of
biomedical issues such
as drug action, drug design and drug development. Students are
increasingly career-oriented
and are motivated by early exposure to applications of their studies.
Although
the proposed program in Pharmaceutical Chemistry suggests a clear
career goal, it
includes sufficient grounding in fundamental chemistry to allow
graduates flexibility if
their career plans change.
Graduates of this program will have a solid foundation in basic
chemistry with a
focus on pharmaceutical applications. They will have skills necessary to
work
productively in the pharmaceutical industry, especially in the areas of
research and
development. Those seeking further education will be prepared for
graduate work in
chemistry or biochemistry, or professional programs in pharmacy or
other health
sciences.

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Degrees of this type, combining basic science with real-world

applications, are an
ideal preparation for medical school or law school. (Pharmacy schools,
of course, are not
excluded, but they usually only require for a pre-pharmacy curriculum
completion of the
sophomore year or approximately 70 semester hours at an institution
of higher learning -
although the acquisition of a baccalaureate degree is often considered
a plus in applying
to pharmacy school, and graduates are ranked higher during the initial
screening.) In
addition, pharmaceutical chemistry will provide an excellent
groundwork for careers in

patent law.

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