Non-Natural Amino Acids in Drug Design
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Biopharmaceuticals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 October 2022) | Viewed by 3880
Special Issue Editor
Interests: amino acids; peptide chemistry; organic synthesis; organic phosphorus compounds; biological active substances; endogenous peptides; pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Synthesis, characterization, and biological application of non-natural amino acids and their derivatives is a scientific topic related to the study and development of new therapeutic drugs for future application in medicine. The creation of drugs without toxicity and with fewer side effects is a major problem whose solution is a challenge for scientists from all over the world. This also motivates the scientists to investigate the possibilities for the synthesis or study of new unusual amino acids and their derivatives believed to possess a wide range of biological activity. It is known that the introduction of unnatural amino acids into peptides significantly improves the resistance of the peptide to enzymatic hydrolysis and biological activity. The handling of the amino acidic scaffold can be regarded as a potentially powerful tool in both pharmaceuticals and medicinal chemistry investigations and the development of new drug candidates. For example, the impact of non-natural amino acids incorporation can be highly useful in improving the stability, potency, bioavailability, and others properties of peptide-based therapies. Aminophosphonic acids are considered to be an important class of amino acid mimetics, and can also be assigned to non-natural amino acids. They have impacted a position of eminence in the field of research works aimed at discovery, understanding, and modification of physiological processes in living organisms.
This Special Issue will involve research manuscripts, reviews, as well as short commentaries on topics related to non-natural amino acids and their derivatives in drug design, both in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry—from synthesis and characterization to their application as potential therapeutics. It can cover reports from chemistry to biology in the field of unnatural amino acids and peptide therapeutics containing unusual amino acids as well as their medicinal application. The exact mechanism of action of non-proteinogenic amino acids and their derivatives on a number of biological processes and activities performed in living organisms has not yet been fully elucidated. This Special Issue has the aim to summarize the state-of-the-art and the latest findings published in the non-natural amino acids in the drug design field, as well as to elucidate future directions.
Dr. Petar Todorov
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2900 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
- non-natural amino acids in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry
- chemical biology of unnatural amino acids
- drug design
- unusual amino acids
- unnatural conformationally restricted amino acids
- D-amino acids
- non-proteinogenic amino acids
- α-Aminophosphonic acids and their derivatives
- peptide therapeutics containing non-natural amino acids
