Exploring Bioactive Organic Compounds for Drug Discovery, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Many naturally occurring bioactive organic compounds, such as polyphenols, carotenoids, phytosterols, organic acids, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, nucleosides and nucleotides, and pentacyclic triterpenoids, have attracted attention because of their active biofunctions in the prevention of certain diseases. In recent years, both natural and synthetic or semi-synthetic bioactive organic compounds have been used in modern drug development as the compounds are a prolific source of important lead compounds and pharmacophores. These include anticancer and antimicrobial agents against drug-resistant bacteria, such as superbugs, antivirus agents, cardioprotective agents, and anti-inflammatory agents. To ensure pharmaceutical development to address modern health challenges, the molecular design, synthesis, and semi-synthesis of potentially bioactive compounds and systematic evaluation of their bioactivity, biotoxicity, and potential applications for pre-clinical trials are crucial. These multi-disciplinary investigations may integrate many areas of knowledge and expertise, including, but not limited to, molecular design and organic synthesis, chemical transformation and structure–activity relationship studies, bioactive compound library construction, high-throughput screening, drug-target identification, molecular simulation, in vitro and in vivo evaluations, and so on. Therefore, contributions from cross-disciplinary experts, such as synthetic chemists, medicinal chemists, phytochemists, biochemists, combinatorial chemists, analytical chemists, as well as other practitioners and engineers in related fields, are clearly highly important in supporting pharmaceutical development and advancement. This Special Issue aims to gather individual efforts to support new drug discoveries through the identification, synthesis, and evaluation of novel bioactive organic compounds that may provide positive impacts in various areas of human health.

Dr. Wing-Leung Wong
Guest Editor

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• bioactive compounds
• bioactivity evaluation
• drug discovery
• medicinal chemistry
• chemical biology
• natural products
• lead compounds and pharmacophores
• molecular design and organic synthesis

• Exploring Bioactive Organic Compounds for Drug Discovery in Molecules (15 articles)