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Most students enrolled in sophomore organic chemistry will continue studies in health-related sciences. Therefore, this course should include the application of organic principles to molecular biology, drug design, and consumer products. This article contains a series of questions that guide a short investigation of the chemistry of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Students are provided information from the Physician's Desk Reference on Motrin and Ansaid. They are asked questions about the stereochemistry, solubility, structure, and metabolism of these and related drugs. They are encouraged to consult other sources such as the Internet and texts on medicinal chemistry and biochemistry to answer these questions.
After students undertake this problem, they will have an idea of how organic chemistry can help them understand the principles of drug design. This experience gives students the opportunity to "see" the structural similarity of drugs with similar therapeutic effects and to transfer the knowledge of the effect of deactivating groups in electrophilic substitution to explain a longer elimination half-life. Students who integrate such seemingly different concepts will have taken an important step in the preparation for future studies in biomedical sciences.
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