MPharm Master of Pharmacy Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design

Question 1

What is the primary purpose of the Lipinski Rule of Five in drug design?

Accepted Answer

Predict oral bioavailability based on physicochemical properties

Answer

Predict drug toxicity in animal models

Answer

Determine drug-receptor binding affinity

Answer

Estimate metabolic stability in the liver

Question 2

Which functional group is most commonly targeted by irreversible inhibitors to form a covalent bond with an enzyme?

Accepted Answer

Serine hydroxyl group

Answer

Amino group

Answer

Carboxyl group

Answer

Methyl group

Question 3

In structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, what does the bioisostere concept involve?

Accepted Answer

Substituting a group with another of similar size and electronics to maintain activity

Answer

Replacing a radioactive atom with a stable isotope

Answer

Adding a prodrug moiety to improve absorption

Answer

Removing a chiral center to simplify synthesis

Question 4

What is the pharmacophore of a drug?

Accepted Answer

The minimum structural features required for biological activity

Answer

The drug's molecular formula

Answer

The route by which a drug is administered

Answer

The metabolic byproduct of a drug

Question 5

Which technique is used in fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) to detect weak fragment binding to a target protein?

Accepted Answer

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)

Answer

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

Answer

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

Answer

Karl Fischer titration

Question 6

Prodrugs are designed primarily to address which drug property limitation?

Accepted Answer

Poor absorption or membrane permeability

Answer

Poor receptor selectivity

Answer

High protein binding

Answer

Excessive plasma half-life