GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY (IUPAC RECOMMENDATIONS 1998)

The objective of the glossary is to provide in a single document a con sistent terminology and concise definitions of terms covering the vari ous aspects of medicinal chemistry. This was felt necessary with regar d to the rapid changes occurring in medicinal chemistry and also by th e need to establish international definition standards. Effectively th e possibility exists that in different countries certain terms may not have the same meaning, in such a case the creation of an internationa lly accepted definition is particularly justified. A Working Party bel onging to the IUPAC Section on Medicinal Chemistry has therefore been assembled which prepared the present glossary. Concise but sufficientl y explanatory definitions have been formulated for about one hundred c ommonly employed terms which can be considered of particular interest to the medicinal chemistry community. The glossary has been compiled i n part from definitions proposed by the Working Party in part from ear lier IUPAC glossaries and in part from well-accepted definitions taken from the literature but which were sometimes published in journals or books that may not be readily accessible.