Emerging Drug Targets: New Challenges for the Medicinal Chemist
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 2548
Special Issue Editor
Interests: medicinal chemistry; organic synthesis; analytical chemistry; mass spectrometry; NMR; natural products; molecular modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the past 5 years, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized an average of 53 new drugs per year. Interestingly, monoclonal antibodies are the class of drugs with the highest number of approvals, but natural compounds still represent a source of inspiration for the design of novel molecules. Additionally, small heterocyclic compounds are still being developed for use as drug candidates.
More than 25 years after the “Lipinski’s rule of five” and in the era of drug repurposing, this Special Issue aims to present innovations in modern medicinal chemistry that enable us to understand the importance of developing small molecules for use as drug candidates against emerging targets. In the world of big data, of databases containing millions of fragments, and of artificial intelligence, the discovery and validation of novel pharmacological targets remains a focus of research.
This Special Issue aims to collect original contributions that describe the study of new or repurposed compounds targeting innovative pathways or macromolecular interactors. Mechanistic studies, target validation, rational drug design and the repurposing of drugs fall within the scope of this Special Issue. Research and review articles are welcome.
Dr. Giovanni Ribaudo
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-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
- drug repurposing
- drug repositioning
- drug design
- target validation
- molecular modeling
- interaction studies
- organic synthesis
- artificial intelligence
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.
