Pharmacology for Chemists

Pharmacology is the study of how chemicals affect biological function - however there is an unfortunate gulf between the chemists who make molecules and the biologists who use them. This introductory book will enable chemists to understand the relevant biology and foster an ability and desire to communicate with biologists. The book covers pharmacology from the perspective of a chemist interested in pharmacology who may have very little previous knowledge of biology, with an emphasis on making the biology understandable and relevant to them. To keep the book concise and focused, all the biology presented is related to specific points relevant to pharmacology. The pharmacological topics developed use judiciously chosen specific examples that form the basis of a general concept. The scope of the book is not all of pharmacology, but focused on certain areas of historical importance to place the topics in context, current areas of importance and areas of predicted future importance. Medicinal chemistry books are largely written by chemists from the point-of-view of chemists and focus on the chemistry, which the readers will often already be familiar with, rather than on the biology and how their knowledge of chemistry can be applied to this biology. This book is written by a lecturer in chemical pharmacology with considerable teaching and research experience and includes contributions from experts at the interface between the two disciplines: chemistry and pharmacology. It is aimed at advanced undergraduate, postgraduate and chemistry professionals wanting to learn the basics of pharmacology and includes a large amount of high quality graphic material.