Advisors: See Faculty of Science, academic advisors.
Medicinal Chemistry is the science of drug discovery. Students in this program will be trained as chemists but will additionally be provided with training that is appropriate for careers in the design, synthesis, and evaluation of potential drug candidates.
The Medicinal Chemistry program fulfils the requirements for professional membership in the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC). The program is integrated with five four-month work terms and extends over four and two-thirds years. Students work and study in alternate terms starting at the end of the 2A term. There is a double work term between terms 3B and 4A.
Continuing in Honours Co-operative Medicinal Chemistry requires a 60% cumulative overall average, a 60% cumulative average in all Chemistry courses, a 70% combined average in CHEM 264 and CHEM 265, and a grade of at least 70% in CHEM 360, CHEM 360L, CHEM 381, CHEM 382L, and CHEM 383.
In order to graduate from Honours Co-operative Medicinal Chemistry, the following requirements must be successfully completed:
- 22.0 units that include:
- 14.0 units of required CHEM courses: CHEM 121, CHEM 121L, CHEM 125, CHEM 125L, CHEM 140, CHEM 200, CHEM 212, CHEM 220, CHEM 220L, CHEM 221, CHEM 224L, CHEM 233, CHEM 240, CHEM 250L, CHEM 254, CHEM 264, CHEM 265, CHEM 265L, CHEM 310, CHEM 313L, CHEM 331, CHEM 340, CHEM 350, CHEM 360, CHEM 360L, CHEM 381, CHEM 382L, CHEM 383, CHEM 464, CHEM 494A, and CHEM 494B
- 1.0 unit of required MATH courses: MATH 127 and MATH 128
- 1.5 units of required PHYS courses: PHYS 111/PHYS 111L or PHYS 121/PHYS 121L; and PHYS 112/PHYS 112L or PHYS 122/PHYS 122L
- 0.5 unit of required BIOL courses: BIOL 130
- 4.5 elective units distributed as follows:
- 3.0 CHEM units from the list of program electives with a minimum of 2.0 lecture units from 400-level courses
- 1.5 units chosen from any 0.5 unit lecture or lab course
- 0.5 ENGL unit: ENGL 193/SPCOM 193
- Full-time enrolment in Years Two, Three, and Four.
- Co-operative program requirements that include:
Additional Program Condition:
A maximum of two failures in CHEM lecture courses are allowed. Failure in more than two CHEM lecture courses will result in the requirement to withdraw from the academic plan.
Recommended Course Sequence
Year One
Fall
BIOL 130 Introductory Cell Biology
CHEM 121/CHEM 121L Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter/Chemical Reaction Laboratory 1
MATH 127 Calculus 1 for the Sciences
PHYS 111/PHYS 111L Physics 1/Physics 1 Laboratory
or PHYS 121/PHYS 121L Mechanics/Mechanics Laboratory
One of ENGL 193/SPCOM 193 Communication in the Sciences
Winter
CHEM 125/CHEM 125L Chemical Reactions, Equilibria and Kinetics/Chemical Reaction Laboratory 2
CHEM 140 Introduction to Scientific Calculations
MATH 128 Calculus 2 for the Sciences
PHYS 112/PHYS 112L Physics 2/Physics 2 Laboratory
or PHYS 122/PHYS 122L Waves, Electricity and Magnetism/Waves, Electricity and Magnetism Laboratory
One elective (0.5 unit)
Year Two
Fall
CHEM 200 Introduction to Laboratory Techniques
CHEM 220/CHEM 220L Intro Analytical Chemistry/Quantitative Chemical Analysis Laboratory
CHEM 240 Mathematical Methods for Chemistry
CHEM 250L Physical Chemistry Laboratory 1
CHEM 264 Organic Chemistry 1
One elective (0.5 unit)
Note: Students transferring into this plan after their 2A term must take a 0.5 unit CHEM lecture or lab course in place of CHEM 200.
Spring
CHEM 212 Structure and Bonding
CHEM 221 Multi-Component Analysis
CHEM 224L Analytical Instrumentation Laboratory
CHEM 233 Fundamentals of Biochemistry
CHEM 254 Introductory Chemical Thermodynamics
CHEM 265/CHEM 265L Organic Chemistry 2/Organic Chemistry Laboratory1
Year Three
Winter
CHEM 313L Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory 1
CHEM 340 Introductory Computational Chemistry
CHEM 350 Chemical Kinetics
CHEM 360/CHEM 360L Organic Chemistry 3/Senior Organic Chemistry Laboratory
CHEM 381 Bioorganic Chemistry
Fall
CHEM 310 Transition Element Compounds and Inorganic Materials
CHEM 331 Fundamentals of Metabolism 1
CHEM 382L Advanced Organic Synthesis Laboratory
CHEM 383 Medicinal Chemistry
One elective (0.5 unit)
Year Four
CHEM 464 Spectroscopy in Organic Chemistry
CHEM 494A Research Project
CHEM 494B Research Project
Six electives (3.0 units)
Note
A synthetic organic chemistry CHEM 400 course must be taken as one of the fourth-year program electives. Not all of the courses offered in the CHEM 400 series can be counted towards the Medicinal Chemistry program. Students should consult their academic advisor for more information about which courses can be counted.