Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Pharmaceutical Chemistry, a branch of chemistry whose subject is medicinal substances. Pharmaceutical Chemistry studies and describes the preparation, properties, and analysis of medicinal substances. Thus, Pharmaceutical Chemistry encompasses the study and description of the physical and chemical properties of substances used for therapeutic purposes, correlating information about their composition and properties with their physiological action; on the basis of generalizations, it derives regularities that make it possible to conduct the rational synthesis and investigation of new, more valuable medicinal substances; finally, it develops research methods and establishes the necessary limits of purity and criteria for evaluating preparations from the standpoint of their medical application, taking into account the technology of their preparation (the latter part constitutes the content of a special division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry—pharmaceutical analysis).-The content of the concept of Pharmaceutical Chemistry changes throughout history. The first attempts to relate chemistry to medicine belong to Paracelsus, who believed that 'the true purpose of alchemy is not in finding methods for making gold, but in finding methods for obtaining medicinal substances (arcanums).' The comparison of pharmacy and chemistry first appears in Arnold Weickardt's 'Thesaurus pharmaceuticus Galeno-Chymicus' (1626). Pharmaceutical Chemistry especially developed after the discoveries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By this time, Pharmaceutical Chemistry had become 'chemistry for pharmacists,' encompassing all substances and phenomena known at that time from a chemical point of view; this corresponded to the production work of the pharmacist, who, using chemical means, served not only medicine but also all the diverse household and economic needs of the population. The flourishing of chemistry in the middle of the 19th century led to a narrower specialization. Along with the emerging specialized chemistry of dyes, explosives, and other substances, Pharmaceutical Chemistry was distinguished as a branch of chemistry encompassing the chemistry of all substances possessing medicinal properties. In recent times, a new, physiological view of the tasks and content of Pharmaceutical Chemistry has emerged. The basis of the previous view, which recognized the existence of medicinal substances, easily reveals the idealistic premises going back to Paracelsus and more ancient authorities of healing medicine: attributing curative properties to substances themselves, this view inevitably leads to the assumption of the purposeful creation by nature of substances that absolutely, in themselves, possess an effect against diseases. The modern view, corresponding to the materialistic worldview, finds its general expression in the assertion that 'there are no medicinal (therapeutic, curative) substances, but only medicinal means.' Any substance—coloring, explosive (e.g., nitroglycerin), fragrant, poisonous, etc.—can be used by man as a means in the treatment or prevention of diseases; decisive is its effect on the body and the possibility of using this effect. In connection with this, the main task of Pharmaceutical Chemistry has been put forward: to clarify the connection between the physiological action and the chemical composition-structure of the various substances used in medicine, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the investigation of new, rationally created medicinal substances. A large amount of material for such a theory has been created both by the works of P. Ehrlich, S. Fraenkel, E. Fourneau (P. Ehrlich, S. Fraenkel, E. Fourneau) and others, and by the work of our pharmacologists, chemists, and pharmacists. The practical side of Pharmaceutical Chemistry is realized in the activities of scientific research institutions [the largest of them: the Scientific Research Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute (NIKhFI) in Moscow, the Scientific Research Pharmaceutical Institute in Leningrad, and the Institute of Experimental Pharmacy in Kharkov], the Pharmaceutical Industry (see), and to some extent the production enterprises (laboratories and factories) of the People's Commissariats of Health, pharmacy administrations, and medical trade organizations (see Gosmedtorgprom, Pharmacy Administration).-In medical higher educational institutions, Pharmaceutical Chemistry has not been taught since 1922, which negatively affects the familiarity of physicians with medicinal substances; in pharmaceutical higher educational institutions and technical schools, Pharmaceutical Chemistry (with its special part—pharmaceutical analysis) is given a significant part of the teaching plans.