EXPLORING MOLECULAR DIVERSITY WITH COMBINATORIAL SHAPE LIBRARIES

Surface technologies based upon selection of ligands from combinatoria l libraries herald a revolution in molecular research and drug discove ry. Molecular diversity is generated by random combinations of monomer ic building blocks to form polymeric conformers that constitute 'shape libraries'. The media for exploring surfaces of target molecules incl ude synthetic or biological polymers consisting of natural or modified amino acids, nucleotides, carbohydrates and other organic materials. Targets can be any biological surface, including enzymes, antibodies, receptors and other regulatory molecules. The power of combinatorial s election is in finding conceptual leads for designing high-affinity li gands and effector molecules for the analysis and manipulation of bioc hemical interactions.