medicinal-chemistry

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 16 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02182-x Many peptides that activate class B1 GPCRs, such as the glucagon receptor (GCGR) or the parathyroid hormone receptor-1 (PTH1R4), are α-helical in the active receptor-bound form. Now, despite destabilizing the helical conformation of parent glucagon and PTH agonists, the presented design strategy generates potent and …

Kaiyi Jiang grew up in a family of doctors in China and saw the limits of the profession. No matter what the physicians in his family tried, sometimes their patients remained sick. So rather than go into medicine, he started thinking about how to design better drugs. Now at Princeton University, Jiang hopes to use artificial intelligence to help answer a fundamental question in drug design: How d…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 16 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-56235-9 Bioengineered zinc oxide nanoparticles derived from Teucrium polium as a multifunctional platform for anticancer activity, hemocompatibility, larval toxicity and photocatalytic remediation

Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship (QSPR) modelling provides an efficient computational framework for predicting physicochemical properties of drug molecules when experimental data are limited. In this study, we investigate the predictive capability of degree-based topological indices (TIs) derived from SMILES (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System) representations for modelling …

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02178-7 The selective functionalization of unprotected amines with alkenes remains a challenge in contemporary synthesis. Now a strategy has been developed for an alkyl swap of N-methylamines, enabling late-stage bioconjugation and peptide modification. The resulting retrosynthetic disconnection also streamlines the preparat…

Mandelate racemase (MR) catalyzes the Mg 2+ -dependent interconversion of ( R )- and ( S )-mandelate and has been employed as a model enzyme to demonstrate that an enzyme catalyzing the deprotonation of a carbon acid substrate may be inhibited by boronic acids. We report a detailed structure–activity-based study of the ability of various boronic acid derivatives to competitively inhibit MR. 2-Nap…

The FDA will allow bemotrizinol in sunscreen. The chemical is long-lasting and defends against solar radiation that ages skin.

Nature Communications, Published online: 12 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74370-9 Direct asymmetric α-C conjugate addition of aminomethylphosphonate to α,β-unsaturated ketones is an intriguing strategy to make bioactive chiral phosphonic 1-pyrrolines. Here, the authors present a direct enantioselective α-C conjugate addition of NH2-unprotected aminomethylphosphonate to α,β-unsaturated ketones…

Nature Communications, Published online: 10 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74372-7 Benzocyclobutenes (BCBs) represent a highly strained, privileged structural motif with significant applications in drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis, polymers and materials science, yet efficient synthetic methods remain limited. Here, the authors report an oxidant-free Au(I)/Au(III)-catalyz…

The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT, President Seok-Min Shin) announced that its DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) Research Center has launched the "DEL CoreBank Platform," which supports hit discovery processes based on DNA-Encoded Library technology.

BackgroundCeramide, acting as an important second messenger, plays a pivotal role in the induction of apoptosis in cancer cells. As one of the active prenylflavonoid ingredients in Epimedium, icariside I (GH01) has been shown to exhibit significant anticancer activity. However, the mechanism by which GH01 induces tumor cell apoptosis by targeting ceramide-orchestrated signaling remains unclear.Pu…

A Cancer-Fighting Molecule from Tree Bark Has Finally Been Built from Scratch Using a novel approach to obtain a common intermediate, the researchers then employed two bioinspired coupling reactions to complete the total synthesis of bisleuconothine A and bousigonine B for the first time.

In Chinese folk medicine, lily bulbs have traditionally been used to help lower blood glucose levels. Numerous studies have demonstrated that extracts from lily bulbs possess significant hypoglycemic activity. However, the specific active metabolites and their underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study first evaluated the hypoglycemic activities of extracts from four common lily species: Li…

A package-readiness guide to Pharmaceuticals (MDPI), the medicinal-chemistry and drug-discovery journal distinct from Pharmaceutics: the Susy portal, single-blind review, fast first decision, the 2,900 CHF APC, and the failure patterns that stall medicinal-chemistry manuscripts before review.

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 05 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02164-z A deconstructive alkaloid remodelling strategy comprising a concise set of robust transformations is introduced. Twenty-six altered frameworks are synthesized, requiring an average of ~1.8 steps per analogue. In cellulo evaluation across ten cancer cell lines indicates that an expanded amine bridge and a deconstructe…

A chromosome-level genome has opened a new window into how Hemsleya ellipsoidea, a medicinal cucurbit known as Xuedan, evolved its unusual ability to accumulate cucurbitacin IIa (CuIIa), a bioactive triterpenoid associated with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities.