Analytical Chemistry for Small Molecule Drug Discovery and Development

Call for Papers

In the field of drug discovery and development, small molecules are low molecular weight organic compounds (<800 Da.) that activate or inhibit the biological processes and functions. Small molecule drugs are being intensively pursued as therapeutic agents for complex diseases such as cancer because they are more likely to rapidly diffuse across the membranes and barriers in biological systems. The drug discovery and development process requires robust and accurate analytical methods. In recent years, advanced analytical techniques have been exploited more extensively to facilitate automated high-throughput screening and quantitation of new drug candidate molecules.

In the present special issue, we invite authors to submit original research and review articles that focus on sample preparation and analytical techniques aiming to accurately extract and quantitate drug metabolites, as well as identification and interpretation of potential drug metabolites in biological samples. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Extraction and purification of small molecule drug metabolites from biological samples such as urine, blood, and tissue samples using flash chromatography, solid-phase extraction (SPE), solid-phase microextraction (SPME), headspace sampling (HS), sample decompositions, and purge and trap techniques
• Advanced separation and detection techniques including liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and infrared spectroscopy
• Quantitation of drug metabolites using chromatographic and/or spectroscopic techniques
• Identification and interpretation of novel drug metabolites in biological system
• Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) study

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/chem/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/chem/analytical.chemistry/acsm/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Mingming Su, Analytical Sciences Lab, David H. Murdock Research Institute, Kannapolis, NC 28081, USA

Guest Editors

• Guoxiang Xie, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA
• Defeng Xu, School of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences, Changzhou University, Jiangsu 213164, China
• Aihua Zhao, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China