New PeerJ Life & Environment and PeerJ Organic Chemistry Special Issue "Organic Chemistry for Health: Discovery, synthesis, characterisation, and evaluation of new physiologically active compounds"

Edited by Eder Lenardao (Professor, Universidade Federal de Pelotas), Pedro Silva (Associate Professor, Universidade Fernando Pessoa) and Christof Jäger (Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham)

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The rational development of novel drugs is a multi-pronged effort that aims to improve the rate at which drug candidates with suitable activity, safety, and metabolic profile are found for later clinical evaluation. The combination of studies in silico with organic synthesis has been shown as a successful method for the discovery of new multi-target bioactive molecules, or hybrids with enhanced activity. The long road of a new drug from the design to the shelf can be shortened, in some cases, by the chemical modification of marketable drugs (molecular hybridization), or by the incorporation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in new drug-delivery materials.

New technologies in organic synthesis, such as the use of automation and flow chemistry - combined or not with alternative energy sources (sonochemistry and mechanochemistry) - have emerged as a major paradigm shift in the development and production of drugs. Computational methods, particularly the emerging use of machine learning applications to find new, synthesizable, target-specific chemical lead structures, also support the rapid development of new drugs. This special issue invites contributions linking the elements within the discovery of new drug molecules. A particular aim is to connect advances (and automation) in the molecular discovery and synthesis of drug candidates with their physiological and pharmacological evaluation, as well as experimentation with computational approaches.

Submissions are welcome to both PeerJ Life & Environment and PeerJ Organic Chemistry. Find out more and submit your abstract for consideration on the Special Issue homepage: https://peerj.com/special-issues/87-org-chem-for-health