Glossary of terms used in medicinal chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1998)

The objective of the glossary is to provide in a single document a consistent terminology and concise definitions of terms covering the various aspects of medicinal chemistry. This was felt necessary with regard to the rapid changes occurring in medicinal chemistry and also by the need to establish international definition standards. Effectively the possibility exists that in different countries certain terms may not have the same meaning, in such a case the creation of an internationally accepted definition is particularly justified. A Working Party belonging to the IUPAC Section on Medicinal Chemistry has therefore been assembled which prepared the present glossary. Concise but sufficiently explanatory definitions have been formulated for about one hundred commonly employed terms which can be considered of particular interest to the medicinal chemistry community. The glossary has been compiled in part from definitions proposed by the Working Party in part from earlier 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.