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Innovations and Breakthroughs in Bifunctional Molecules

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 12

Special Issue Editor

Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 2111098, China
Interests: drug discovery; medicinal chemical biology; bioinformatics; molecular optimization; cancer immunotherapy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on bifunctional molecules, a field rapidly redefining the boundaries of "druggability" by bringing countless disease targets once considered "undruggable" within therapeutic reach. Traditional small-molecule inhibitors rely on an "occupancy-driven" mechanism, requiring high-affinity binding to the active site of a target protein to block its function—an approach often ineffective against targets lacking well-defined binding pockets. In contrast, bifunctional molecule technology adopts a novel "event-driven" paradigm. Through sophisticated molecular design, a target protein ligand is covalently linked to an effector function ligand (e.g., an E3 ubiquitin ligase recruiter) via a connector, enabling the recruitment of powerful biological systems (e.g., the ubiquitin–proteasome system, the lysosomal system, etc.) within the body to precisely regulate or eliminate pathogenic target proteins. This Special Issue highlights cutting-edge technologies and intends to feature groundbreaking research on emerging platforms such as PROTAC, molecular glues, LYTAC, AUTAC (autophagy-targeting chimera), and RIBOTAC (RNA-targeting chimera), covering their molecular design, mechanisms of action, and optimization strategies. By gathering insights from leading researchers in the field, we will provide a valuable resource for scientists, drug development experts, and students, fostering collaboration to advance this dynamic discipline and, ultimately, deliver next-generation transformative therapies to patients worldwide. We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue and jointly explore the boundless possibilities of bifunctional molecules.

Dr. Xiaoli Xu
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

Keywords

  • bifunctional molecules
  • PROTAC
  • molecular glues
  • LYTAC
  • AUTAC
  • RIBOTAC

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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