INTRODUCTION
Our body is composed of organic substances (proteins and lipids etc.), therefore only an organic compound
can systematically interact with them to produce a therapeutic effect or a change in physiological function
of the body.
There are some inorganic compounds which have local action, for example Iodine as antiseptic agent and
Aluminum hydroxide as antacid to reduce acidity of stomach. Therefore to control infectious diseases and
other complicated diseases we have to use organic molecules only. Therefore in pharmacy we are mostly
concern with organic molecules.
Organic molecules may be of two types: (a) Those which are organic in nature but cannot change
physiological functions of the body, e.g. Benzoic acid (C6H5COOH) has antibacterial activity and used as
preservative in cane foods. (b) Those which are organic in nature and can be used to change physiological
functions of the body, e.g. Aspirin (CH3CO-O-C6H4-COOH) has analgesic and antipyretic activity.
Compounds (a) are simply known as organic compounds and compounds (b) are known as Pharmaceutical
organic compounds or drugs.
A chemist is concerned with organic compounds only because he/she is interested in their synthesis and
physical and chemical properties only, but he/she has not concern with the biological activity of the
compound. A pharmacist is interested in synthesis and physical and chemical properties of the compound,
because he/she have to prepare it in a dosage form and on the other hand he/she is also interested in
biological activity of the compound because he/she have to use it as a drug to cure illness.
Drugs & Medicines: Compounds which have a therapeutic effect either positive or negative are known
as drugs e.g. Morphine (positive effect: analgesic effect) and Heroin (negative effect: CNS stimulation up
to harmful level). Compounds which have positive effects only are known as medicines e.g. Morphine.
All medicines are drugs but all drugs are not medicines like all alkalis are bases but all bases are not
alkalis.
Pharmacy profession: The profession concerned with art and science of dispensing and preparing a
drug obtained from synthetic or natural sources, suitable to be used for diagnosis, medication, prevention,
cure, treatment, protection of the disease. The skills you can improve by practice are arts and skills which
based on physical rules are known as science. For example, driving a car you can improve by practice
(art) but mechanical working of car cannot be changed (science).
Pharmaceutical Chemistry: It concerns with synthesis, structure, physical, chemical and biological
activity of the drugs. Therefore it comprises (a) fundamental of chemistry as well as (b) fundamental of
biological fields.
(a) Fundamentals of Chemistry:
(1) Organic Chemistry (synthesis and structure of drugs)
(2) Inorganic Chemistry (chelation: interaction of tetracycline with Ca2+ions)
(3) Physical Chemistry (physical properties: viscosity, surface tension, density)
(4) Analytical Chemistry (determination of amount of drug by titrations, spectrophotometer etc.)
(b) Fundamentals of Biology:
(1) Physiology (to study physiological functions of the body)
(2) Anatomy (to study structure of different organs of the body)
(3) Biochemistry (to study different enzymatic reactions and metabolisms in the body)
(4) Microbiology (to study about micro-organism)
Medicinal Chemistry: It is an important field of medicinal chemistry which link chemistry and biology
together. On one hand it studies the structure of drug which can give the best interaction with the receptor
site and on the other hand it studies the biological activity of the drug’s derivatives. It helps to derive a
potent drug.