From Nature to Synthetic Small Molecule Antioxidants: New Candidates in Drug Discovery

Dear Colleagues,

Nature is a rich source of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Over the years, indigenous remedies have shown interesting pharmacological properties, paving the way for the isolation and characterization of bioactives and the development of molecular hybrids or small molecules to treat different diseases.

Aiming to develop new efficacious, safe, and reasonably affordable drugs, nature still has a meaningful role as an unlimited source of pharmacophoric structures. Starting from the latter, medicinal chemistry develops active compounds by structure simplification, hybridization, or mimetic derivatives to interact with different targets and treat several human diseases. The design of bioisosteres has demonstrated great utility in increasing target affinity and in solving a range of problems that affect drug candidates such as chemical and metabolic stability.

This Special Issue, entitled “From Nature to Synthetic Small Molecule Antioxidants: New Candidates in Drug Discovery”, aims to welcome both original articles and extensive reviews related to natural products, their derivatives, and de novo designed compounds in drug discovery efforts. Oxidative-stress-related conditions, reactive oxygen species, oxidative damage, and inflammatory stimuli are topics of great interest for modern medicinal chemistry, and therefore, they will be welcome in this Special Issue. For publication, we will consider the following topics: the bioactivity of medicinal plant extracts, the development of natural-derived compounds, biological applications and synthetic strategies for natural metabolites and/or analogs, and the rational or computer-aided design and development of synthetic small molecule derivatives with pharmacological interest. Furthermore, applications to different disorders, from cancers to infectious diseases, as well as cardiovascular, neurological, and other human conditions will also be considered.

Dr. Gabriele Carullo
Dr. Roberta Ibba
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antioxidants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.