Sustainable Approaches in Medicinal Chemistry: Innovation in Green Chemistry Methodologies
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 117
Editor
Interests: organic synthesis; medicinal chemistry; enzyme inhibitors; drug design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Medicinal chemistry has long been at the forefront of innovation in drug discovery, delivering life-saving therapies through increasingly sophisticated molecular design. However, traditional synthetic practices in this field have often relied on resource-intensive processes, hazardous reagents, and inefficient reaction pathways, raising significant environmental and economic concerns. In parallel with the growing global emphasis on sustainability, the integration of green chemistry principles into medicinal chemistry has emerged as both a scientific necessity and an ethical imperative area.
We are pleased to invite you to submit original works concerning eco-friendly methodologies in medicinal chemistry. This Special Issue seeks to define the state of the art in green chemistry methodologies as applied to medicinal chemistry, highlighting transformative advances that enable more sustainable, efficient, and scalable routes to bioactive molecules. Emphasis is placed on contributions that demonstrate clear conceptual innovation and measurable improvements in environmental performance, supported by quantitative metrics (e.g., E-factor, PMI) and, where relevant, industrial applicability.
We particularly encourage submissions reporting catalytic, atom-economical, and step-economical strategies; implementation of flow and continuous processing; biocatalytic and chemoenzymatic approaches; and the rational selection or elimination of solvents and auxiliaries. Studies that integrate green chemistry principles into route design, late-stage functionalization, and the synthesis of structurally complex or pharmaceutically relevant compounds are of high interest.
Priority will be given to work that goes beyond incremental optimization, offering generalizable methodologies, mechanistic insight, or enabling technologies with demonstrated impact on drug discovery and development. Interdisciplinary contributions incorporating data-driven approaches, automation, or process intensification to advance sustainable medicinal chemistry are also strongly encouraged.
This Special Issue aims to provide a rigorous platform for innovations that meaningfully reduce the environmental footprint of pharmaceutical research and manufacturing while advancing the frontiers of medicinal chemistry.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Davide Moi
Guest Editor
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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.
Keywords
- green chemistry
- drug discovery
- drug design
- molecular biology
- flow chemistry
- mechanochemistry
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
