Overview – Introduction to Chemistry

00:02 So, why study chemistry? Chemistry describes how substances interact with one another. It is the fundamental science behind biology, pharmacology and all of the other life sciences.

00:14 Over the duration of this course, we’re going to be looking at how this will then impact the medicinal sciences. And we’re going to be looking at some elements of medicinal chemistry.

00:25 Indeed the importance of chemistry itself cannot be understated. So it is a fundamental science into which medicinal chemistry is rolled.

00:35 So, for example, without a knowledge of chemistry you may be able to learn what happens but you will not necessarily understand why. And if we look at the application of chemistry to medicine even across the board, everything from salicylic acid, inactivation of cyclooxygenase, all the way up to HIV-1 protease inhibition by ritonavir, you can see that small molecules chemistry is by and large the most important element of chemistry in the context of medicine.

01:07 There are of course some exceptions, the exceptions being the biologics such as the more recent ZMapp 3 monoclonal antibody treatment for Ebola. But equally more reported in the last couple of years was the Niemann-Pick 1 inhibitor, which is actually a small-molecule derivative.

01:27 So chemistry itself is very important in the context of medicine.

01:32 In these lectures, which form parts of the course as a whole, we will see how an atom is made up, how they come together and how they interact with each other.