Medicinal Chemistry is the science of design and chemical synthesis focusing mainly on small organic molecules and their development of pharmaceutical agents, or bio-active molecules (drugs). Pharmaceutical Chemistry is the same plus the science of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis to the synthesized agents.

Thus, Pharmaceutical Chemistry is more comprehensive

Although, nowadays both the branches of chemistry are intermixed and very difficult to differentiate, but in my opinion "Medicinal chemistry deals with the study of synthesis, identification and development of chemical entities those having therapeutic uses whereas the Pharmaceutical Chemistry deals with the study of new drug discovery and development with main emphasis on stability/ reactivity and other physical parameters."

Hello all,

although this question seemed to be a simple one - you might get difficulties to distinguish between both fields of chemistry.

At first, Pharm.Chem. is not "limited to the discovery of new pharmaceutical agents." Pharm.Chem. also includes the synthesis and analysis of existing drugs and all kinds of properties (chemical, physicochemical, ...) and effects (pharmacological, toxicological, ...) of drugs - a very broad field.

On the other hand, Med.Chem. is - in my opinion - more related to the molecular interactions of drugs and e.g. receptors and the development of new drugs including the extensive field of computational chemistry.

Medicinal Chemistry is the science of design and chemical synthesis focusing mainly on small organic molecules and their development of pharmaceutical agents, or bio-active molecules (drugs). Pharmaceutical Chemistry is the same plus the science of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis to the synthesized agents.

Thus, Pharmaceutical Chemistry is more comprehensive

Actually saying both are same, but in perticular, pharmaceutical chemistry concentrates on formulations and stability studies of the product.in medicinal chemistry, the drugs are individually studied including the synthesis,structure, properties, medicinal vaue and usefulness of that.

Hello again!

I think, Pharm.Chem. do not "concentrates on formulations and stability studies..." That is Pharm.Technology - also a very broad field during the study of pharmacy...

Regards.

Medicinal chemistry is the science of optimizing the totality of properties that make a successful drug. This activity includes optimizing the potency as measured in the chosen test systems as well as pharmacokinetic properties and, to some extent, side effect liabilities. The role of medicinal chemistry changes along the value chain. The process usually begins with the generation of a "hit" i.e.of a compound that has prototype biological activity of the profile one is looking for. There are various methods of coming up with a hit, usually screening, but looking at the (patent) literature, known side effects of known drugs or intuition of medicinal chemists can be sources of "chemical starting points". The tools of medicinal chemists are primarily synthetic organic chemistry and computational chemistry methods. Of enormous value are years of experience, knowledge of drugs and intuition.

I'm not sure whether there is a clear distinction between medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry.

I feel medicinal chemistry is a narrower field than pharmaceutical chemistry. Medicinal chemistry deals with the synthesis, chemical and physical properties of the drugs, SAR studies of the drugs, drugs compatibility with the body and its pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties. While pharmaceutical chemistry not only involves these aspects but also the drug delivery, formulation, different analytical techniques to analyse the properties of the drug etc.

Medicinal chemistry may be considered as a part of pharmaceutical chemistry.

There is an official definition of Medicinal chemistry by IUPAC.

Medicinal chemistry is a chemistry-based discipline, also involving aspects of biological, medical and pharmaceutical sciences. It is concerned with the invention, discovery, design, identification and preparation of biologically active compounds, the study of their metabolism, the interpretation of their mode of action at the molecular level and the construction of structure-activity relationships.

Pharmaceutical chemistry - emphasis is on patient-focused pharmaceutical care and on the pharmacist as a therapeutic consultant, rather than a chemist.

In this era of interdisciplinary based studies they are one and the same thing, however to me, medicinal chemistry is supposed to discuss mainly the invention and discovery of drugs, while pharmaceutical chemistry covers the implementation and mechanismic study of drugs.

medicinal chemistry is multidisciplinary field including Pharm. Chemistry, Pharmacology-Pharmcotherapy, Biotech and so on. However, this field is usually under Pharm. Chem.

Medicinal chemistry consist of two parts namely, drug design and synthesis. On the other hand in pharmaceutical chemistry, mostly study on drug uses, how drug gets metabolites, its kinetics, and any side effect is there or not.

Medicinal chemistry = pharmaceutical chemistry

Pharmaceutical chemistry is a part of medicinal chemistry

In my opinion, these concepts are slightly differents. Pharmaceutical Chemistry is a specific area of medicinal chemistry, where the knowledge about the molecular aspects of pharmacology is focused on patient, i.e. is medicinal chemistry applied to pharmacotherapy.

However, does anyone have a definition of Pharmaceutical Chemistry from literature, indeed? I really need one...

Pharmaceutical chemistry is a broad include everything, belongs to the history of chemical agents intended to use as pharmaceuticals, like may be drug, or additives or diagnostics etc. and it deals more of synthetic drug chemistry, and less of chemistry of biological interactions, Whereas medicinal chemistry deals more focus on property of molecules and its relation to biological interaction, and their effect. I can say, its more of chemistry of molecule as medicines and has more pharmacological justification. Now a days, medicinal chemistry is more commonly referred to indicate a field of drug design and discovery, regardless of the molecule from natural or synthetic or from semi-synthetic.

Pharmaceutical Chemistry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the chemical, biochemical and pharmacological aspects of drugs. It includes synthesis/isolation, identification, structural elucidation, structural modification, structural activity relationship (SAR) studies, study of the chemical characteristics, biochemical changes after drug administration and their pharmacological effects as well as analysis of drugs. In more simple words it is more broader than  medicinal chemistry in its application also in the fields of  analysis, identification, as well as, structural elucidation of drugs

In our university medicinal chemistry is the science which study of design, synthesis, structure- activity relationship and metabolism of drugs, and pharmaceutical chemistry mainly includes pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis to the synthesized drugs.