Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Indexed In
Journal Highlights
Chiral Drug Synthesis and Stereochemistry
Covalent Inhibitors and Irreversible Drugs
Prodrug Strategies and Design
Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry
Nanotechnology in Drug Development
Chemical Biology Tools in Target Discovery
Drug Repurposing Repositioning
Drug Receptor Interactions
Ligand Based Drug Design
Structure Based Drug Design
Combinatorial Chemistry
Pharmacophores
Lipinskis Rule of Five and Drug Likeness
Isosterism and Bioisosterism
Click Chemistry in Drug Discovery
Asymmetric Synthesis in Drug Development
Biologics and Monoclonal Antibodies
RNA Based Therapeutics
Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras
Green Chemistry in Medicinal Chemistry
Chemoinformatics and Machine Learning
In Vitro and In Vivo Pharmacology
Animal Models in Drug Testing
Transporters in Drug Delivery
Neuropharmacology and Neurochemistry
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Covalent Inhibitors and Irreversible Drugs
Covalent inhibitors and irreversible drugs form strong, often permanent, bonds with their biological targets, usually through nucleophilic amino acid residues. These inhibitors are designed to enhance potency, duration of action, and target specificity. By forming covalent bonds, they achieve sustained inhibition even at lower doses. Irreversible drugs are particularly effective against enzymes that play a role in diseases such as cancer and infections. Advances in structure-based drug design help in crafting selective covalent warheads that minimize off-target effects. Despite earlier concerns about toxicity, modern covalent drugs are designed with improved safety profiles. Examples include aspirin and certain kinase inhibitors. This class of drugs is gaining renewed interest in targeted therapy development.