Chemical Design and Synthesis of Antimicrobial Drugs
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 1215
Special Issue Editors
Interests: drug discovery; medicinal chemistry; antimicrobial drugs; small-molecule inhibitors; peptidomimetics; stapled peptides
2. CIIMAR-Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal
3. ICBAS-School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge de Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
Interests: pharmaceuticals; chemical sciences; organic chemistry
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The development of antimicrobial drugs with novel structures and clear mechanisms of action that are active against drug-resistant bacteria has become urgent; this is due to the rise of bacterial drug resistance and the need to safeguard human health. To combat antimicrobial resistance, the WHO published a list of “ESKAPE” pathogens that pose the greatest threat to human health in 2017; in order, these are Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.
Researchers have thus attempted to uncover the mystery of bacterial resistance and develop more convenient and effective antibacterial strategies. This Special Issue provides up-to-date research and perspectives on the discovery, rational design, and chemical, pharmacological, in vitro and clinical properties of natural and synthetic antimicrobial agents, in order to understand the relationship between their molecular structure and biological activity or mode of action. The scope of this Special Issue includes the following:
The design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel biologically active antimicrobial compounds.
The molecular modification of reported series that lead to a significantly enhanced understanding of their structure–activity relationships (SAR).
Computational studies that provide fresh insight into the SAR of compound series that are of current general interest, or the analysis of other available data that subsequently advance medicinal chemistry knowledge.
The effect of the molecular structure on the distribution, pharmacokinetics, and metabolic transformation of biologically active compounds. This may include the design, synthesis, and evaluation of novel types of prodrugs.
Dr. Ma Su
Dr. Diana I.S.P. Resende
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- antimicrobial drugs
- rational design
- drug resistance
- ESKAPE pathogens
- structure–activity relationship
- advanced skeleton
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