Introduction to D.1 to D.6 and D.7 to D.9

Option D : Medicinal chemistry is one of the most popular options worldwide at both Standard and Higher Level. Students tend to enjoy studying it as they can easily relate to medicines and drugs and how they can affect their own body. It has some similarities to Option B in that it deals with some quite complex molecules so the emphasis is on understanding how they function and recognizing the important functional groups they contain rather than just learning structures. Indeed virtually all the structures you need are given in Section 37 of the IB Chemistry data booklet. You might be tempted to think that it would be a useful preparation if you want to go on and study medicine; but in reality it probably does not make much difference which one of the four options you study now that they all contain the same four strands of quantitative, analytical, environmental and organic chemistry.

There is some material in this option which you need to study responsibly. There are antibiotics such as penicillin which are used to treat sexually transmitted diseases and the syllabus also covers anti-virals which are used to treat  conditions such as HIV / AIDS.  Similarly the fact that diamorphine (heroin) is on the syllabus may raise a few eyebrows. However there is serious chemistry behind the study of these substances and you should be aware of the social harm that the abuse of drugs such as ethanol (alcohol) and diamorphine (heroin) can cause as well as understanding the chemistry associated with them.

This option starts by looking at how medicines and drugs affect the body, how they are administered and how new drugs are developed. It then looks at specific classes of drugs which include analgesics (both mild and opiates), penicillins, antacids and antivirals and the environmental impact of using some medications. Higher Level students then look in detail at how one particular drug (taxol) is made using chiral auxiliaries, the use of nuclear isotopes in radiotherapy and how drugs can be detected and analysed.

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