Posted: May 13th, 2015

Literature Assignment

The aim of the assignment is to expose you to some recent developments in the field of drugs and toxins. Further, you will learn to search and critically assess the literature – scientific journals and other sources of research material. The material for your assignment must be on a new drug – generally less than ten years old – assignments on penicillin will automatically fail. The assignments can be done individually (approximately 1500 words), or by a pair (approximately 3000 words). The due date for the assignment is after the last lecture of

The assignment can be on a topic of your choice, approved by Trevor Rook, taken from any relevant area such as drug development, drug synthesis, drug delivery, drug action or toxicology. You must concentrate on the chemical aspects of the drug or toxin. For each compound, specify target organs and/or receptors, mode of action (where known) and metabolism with emphasis on its chemical aspects. Your drug should be a discrete molecule, not an antibody.

It is expected that you will need to consult both reference books and articles from the scientific literature (that is, journals). Material from the internet – except for scientific journals – is not acceptable, except as general background. Remember that material on the internet has not been independently assessed for correctness. Hence at least half your references should be from the scientific literature, and you must have a minimum of four journal articles.

Assignments with only internet references will automatically fail. The assignment must be clearly written, with appropriate chemical structures and reactions, diagrams etc. It must be written in your own words, and not be simply large chunks of material plagiarised from the internet. All sources used (including diagrams) must be properly referenced.

Content

Make sure you address the following as far as possible:
• Give a brief introduction of the drug – what is it used for etc. I have chosen a drug (ceftobiprole).
• Is it a natural product, purely synthetic or partly synthetic – a modified natural product?
• If purely synthetic, is it based on a natural product?
• Is the drug given as the active form, or as a prodrug? If the latter:
o what reaction(s) does it undergo to give the active form;
o what enzymes are involved (if any)?
• In its action, does it undergo any chemical reactions? For example, does it form new covalent bonds at the
active site of an enzyme, like penicillin? If not, is it known what bond(s) hold the compound in the active
site?
• Are there stereoisomers of the drug? If so, are they toxic, or do they cause side effects?
• Is the drug metabolised before excretion? If so:
o what is/are the metabolic reaction(s);
o what enzymes are involved (if any)?
• What is the half-life of the drug, and how/where is it excreted?
• Is it an nth generation drug – that is, is it a modified form of a previously used drug? If so, in what ways is
it an improvement over the previous generation(s)?