Chemistry is important in medicine because most diseases, injuries, and treatments involve

chemicals and chemical processes. By understanding chemistry, we are able to develop drugs
that fight disease, develop better nutrition, and develop healthier environments to avoid disease.
Chemistry is what I call the how and why part of science. Biology can tell us a lot about what
is involved in biological systems, but when we look at the human body in terms of wanting
to cure disease, we need to understand:

How the body works normally, so we can see what may have gone wrong.

Chemistry is involved in modelling chemical systems in the body, to increase our understanding
of how we work. For example, the way haemoglobin (a protein that stores iron) takes up and
releases iron in the body has been studied* and found to work using chemical oxidation and
reduction processes.

Why something may have gone wrong, and how we might be able to fix it.

What might have gone wrong: Chemists have developed useful diagnostic tools used everyday in
hospitals, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and CT scanning. These techniques allow
pictures (using magnetic waves or x-rays) to be taken so doctors can see the organs, bones and
tissue inside a patient.
Trying to fix it: Chemistry also plays a huge role in the development of synthetic drugs such as
antibiotics, antimalarials and analgesics (pain killers). New research is being done on possible
ways chemistry can be used to target cancer cells without killing the healthy cells around the
cancer growths.
And this is where Chemistry is so important in medicine.
*see Ahmad, S. Singh, V. Rao, G (2005) Release of iron fr

Organic chemistry has been highly disregarded as a discipline of importance for medical and
premedical curriculums. At present, however, people are beginning to make the connection
between organic chemistry and its importance in the medical field.
New curriculums are being designed that unite organic chemistry and biomedical processes.
Task forces consisting of chemistry and biology researchers and professors have been formed to
design curriculums that incorporate organic chemistry courses to suit the needs of students in
medical fields. These task forces are attempting to develop a practical, comprehensive approach
to organic chemistry as it applies to medicine.

Organic chemistry is essential in biological and medical fields. All living organisms are
composed of abundances of organic substances. Evolution of life has been postulated to have
been developed from one single organic compound called a nucleotide. Nucleotides polymerize,
or join together to form the building blocks of all life, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
Organic compounds constitute various substances in the body which are vital for life to be
sustained. Proteins, carbohydrates and lipids are organic compounds that contribute to the
structure of the human body. Organic compounds also make up enzymes and catalysts that are
mandatory for essential biological processes to occur. Also, organic compounds are responsible
for governing ion transport channels in the cell which function in carrying information from one
cell to another and mediating cell to cell communication. Failure of ion transport may result in
failure of important biological processes in the body.
Pharmaceuticals are also comprised mainly of organic compounds. What doctor would be
efficient if he or she was not familiar with the structure and function of the drugs they were
administering? Organic chemistry of pharmaceuticals must be understood to properly prescribe a
drug to a patient.
The function of organic processes in the body must also be known by the doctor even before they
attempt to administer any drugs. Many medical disorders are due to disruption of organic
molecules in the body: for example, hemophilia. This is a disease in which caroxyglutamic acid
is deficient in the body. This organic compound is essential for blood clotting to occur within the
body. People who lack this substance may die due to a minor cut or small bruise. This
demonstrates the importance of organic compounds in the body.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is an example of a very simple, yet extremely toxic organic
compound that even in small quantities can cause death. Many toxic substances are of organic
descent. Doctors must be able to determine the effects of these toxic substances in the body,
recognize the symptoms they are associated with, and prescribe the appropriate pharmaceutical
to combat the poison.
It is evident that organic molecules are essential for the sustenance of all life. Understanding
these compounds is crucial in the medical field not only to understand
basic biological functions, but also to predict scenarios in the body which may be due to
disruption of organic substances, or adverse reactions due to foreign organic substances in the
body. Complete medical efficiency will only be achieved when the science of organic chemistry
is understood.

Chemistry for a Healthier World

Lots of could-be medicines look good on paperor on a computer screenbut a drug can only
do its intended job of treating a symptom or fighting a disease if it gets to the right place in the

body to do its job. That's where chemistry plays such a big role, in tweaking molecules to
interact appropriately with the body.
A lot of the most important medical progress in recent history has come from the development of
powerful antibiotics and vaccines to treat infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and
parasites. But those breakthroughs have come with a costmicroorganisms have learned how to
fight back, and with a vengeance.
The misuse of antibiotics is the most common reason why antibiotic resistance is such a
significant public health problem. These drugs are sometimes overprescribed by doctors, and
many people fail to finish a full prescription.
Resisting Resistance

MRSA is a strain of bacteria that has become resistant to antibiotics like methicillin. Credit:
Janice Haney Carr, CDC
What's the problem? An antibiotic drug treats infection by knocking out hundreds of strains of
"sensitive" bacteria in the body. But left behind are many nonsensitive, or resistant, strains. With
no stops in place, the resistant microbes repopulate themselves rapidly.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a bacterium that causes difficult-totreat infections in humans, and its prevalence has been on the rise.
Making matters worse, MRSA has become resistant to most disinfectants and antiseptics used in
hospitals.
Chemists are well aware of the public health danger posed by MRSA and other resistant
organisms. They are working hard to outwit microbes that develop resistance. New forms of
antibiotic drugs are currently in the pipeline, and researchers are trying to design them to target
vulnerable molecular regions of enzymes within bacteria.
Not Your Local Library

As the name suggests, medicinalalso called pharmaceuticalchemistry is an area of research

that focuses on designing and making drugs of all sorts. The first step in this process is
identifying new molecules.
Years ago, medicinal chemists spent most of their time isolating interesting molecules from
living organisms, mainly plants. Today, however, chemists working in this area are equally
concerned with finding good ways to make these molecules in the lab. Medicinal chemists also
work out the best way to deliver the new drug: as a capsule, tablet, aerosol or injection.

Combinatorial chemistry helps narrow the search for new drugs.

Identifying a molecule with a specific medicinal effectlike lowering cholesterol or killing only
tuberculosis bacteriatakes time and patience. But a strategy called combinatorial chemistry can
help a lot. In this process, chemists create and then sift through immense collections, or
"libraries," of molecules. The newly identified molecules, or "leads," are then tested for their
usefulness in treating disease in animals and people.
Just like an online catalog helps you find books in the library or in a bookstore, combinatorial
chemistry helps find molecules in a chemical library. It also usually involves computers to help a
chemist find molecular matches that meet defined criteria.
Chemical libraries consist of a diverse matrix of thousands or even millions of different
molecules made from just a few starting chemical building blocks. Each chemical has associated
information about its chemical structure, purity or other characteristics stored in some kind of
database.
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Two-Faced Drugs
Many properties help determine a molecule's potential as a drug. These include its chemical
makeup, stability and solubility (how well it dissolves in water or body fluids).

Synthesizing new molecules or drugs involves much more than following a simple recipe. That's
because chemical reactions turn out two, mirror-image results: a "left" and a "right" version of a
molecule. The molecular building blocks of proteins, sugars, and DNA and RNA all have this
property, which is called chirality. The term stems from the Greek word for "hands," the most
familiar chiral objects.
Chemists call the two mirror images of a molecule enantiomers. Many chemical reactions
generate a mixture of equal amounts of the two enantiomers. This matters when it comes to
making a small molecule, such as a drug, that must fit precisely into a uniquely shaped cavity of
a body protein. Whereas the left-handed version may fit perfectly into the correct space inside
the protein, its right-handed counterpart couldn't squeeze in, no matter what.

Hands are familiar chiral objects.

To manufacture products quickly and cost effectively, pharmaceutical companies used to produce
medicines that contained equal portions of the left- and right-handed versions. That is because it
is usually much less efficient and more expensive to produce only one enantiomer of a drug.
Over time, however, chemistry research has taught us the importance of making single-handed
compounds.
This solves two problems. The first is eliminating enantiomers that are dangerous. And in the
vast majority of cases, most drugs produced as left- and right-handed mixtures are only half as
strong as they could be, because one hand does nothing more than dilute the final mixture.

Chemistry, sometimes called the 'central science', because it connects astronomy, physics and
biology, is the study of matter and the changes it undergoes. More specifically it is concerned
with the composition, behavior, structure and properties of matter, as well as any changes it
undergoes during chemical reaction.
Disciplines within chemistry are traditionally grouped by the type of matter being studied or the
kind of study. These include the following:

Inorganic Chemistry, the study of inorganic matter.

Organic Chemistry, the study of organic (carbon based) matter.

The study surrounding substances in biological organisms.

Physical Chemistry, the study of chemical processes.

Analytical chemistry, the analysis of material samples in order to gain understanding of

their composition and structure.

Chemistry is a huge part of medicine, not only do you need an understanding of it to become a
doctor, but it is also both a diagnostic and treatment tool.
The importance of chemistry lies in developing and testing new medical treatments and
medicines. Without it doctors would not understand how vitamins, supplements, and drugs can
help or harm you.
Chemistry departments in hospital medical labs play an important, and valuable role. Analyzing
substances such as blood and urine, for proteins, sugars and other metabolic and inorganic
substances. They are able to look for problems such as diabetes, therefore offering an early
prognosis and cure to potentially life threatening diseases.