Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this unit you must:

• Achieve a Total Mark equal to or greater than 50%

 Late Submission Policy

• 5% penalty per day: If you submit your assessment late, 5% of the total possible marks will be deducted for each day (including weekends), up to 7 days.

  • Example 1 (out of 100): If you score 85/100 but submit 20 hours late, you will lose 5 marks and receive 80/100.

  • Example 2 (out of 30): If you score 27/30 but submit 1 day late, you will lose 1.5 marks and receive 25.5/30.

• After 7 days: Submissions more than 7 days late will receive a mark of 0.

• Extensions:

  • Special Consideration: If you need more time due to serious issues, you must apply for Special Consideration.

• Need help? Review the Special Consideration page HERE

CHEM3801 Medicinal Chemistry is a 10 credit point unit requiring 150 hours of work over the semester (formal contact hours and self study time). This is an average of 10 hours of work per week over each of the 15 weeks of semester. Formal contact hours for CHEM3801 consist of 2 hours of lectures and a 1-hour interactive SGTA per week, along with 8 x 4-hour laboratory classes throughout semester. Students are expected to participate in all lectures, SGTAs and laboratory classes. Active participation by students in all of these activities will be essential for success in the unit.

Lectures

NOTE: Lectures commence in Week 1

The unit will cover 2 hours of lecture material each week. Some lecture material will be available on the unit website, while other material will be provided during the lecture classes. You should use these lectures as a starting point and supplement their content with material from the textbook, the scientific literature and from other online sources. Much of the unit content builds on content covered in previous weeks, so it will be essential to keep up to date with the lecture material throughout the semester.

Interactive SGTAs

NOTE: Interactive SGTAs commence in Week 1

A 1-hour interactive SGTA will be held most weeks starting from Week 1. This is your opportunity to interact directly with the teaching staff, to ask lots of pertinent questions and to identify any weaknesses or clarify misconceptions you may have. Learning is an active process, and as such, you must engage with the material. This means reading the textbook (and beyond) before and after lectures, attempting the assignment questions and discussing the concepts with your classmates and lecturers. Do not be afraid to ask questions – everyone benefits from a robust and open discussion of the topics. Five short quizzes will also be delivered throughout semester. The quizzes may include any material that has been covered in the unit up to that point, so you are expected to keep up to date with lectures and to revise course material each week. While not formally assessed, the quizzes are designed to help you to learn continuously and to identify what you understand and the areas that you need to spend more time on.

Laboratory Classes

NOTE: Laboratory classes commence in Week 1

Laboratory classes will be conducted in small teams and require a highly collaborative and investigative approach. You will be designing and synthesising a series of sulfonamide antibiotics and subsequently testing them for antibacterial activity to determine the important features for their antibacterial activity. This laboratory work is designed to give real-world experience in research by involving you in the design of the experiments, using literature procedures as a guide, and troubleshooting to identify the best experimental conditions. The classes will emphasise the importance of teamwork and being well prepared and efficient. You will need to be fully aware of safety procedures, proper recording and reporting of raw data and interpretation of results. This will require an analytical and inquisitive approach. The first (dry) laboratory class starts in Week 1, where you will meet your fellow team members, plan your synthetic routes and complete risk assessments. There will then be a series of wet labs sessions run throughout semester. Please refer to the iLearn site for a detailed schedule. The final (dry) laboratory class will bring all the teams back together to discuss their results and to finalise the laboratory reports. To maximise the amount of wet lab time available to complete the experiments, you will need to be highly organised and to have prepared thoroughly BEFORE entering the laboratory. If you are not able to "hit the ground running" each laboratory class, you risk running out of time by the end of semester.

Communication

The web page for this unit can be found at ilearn.mq.edu.au.

Login with your MQ student ID number and password, then follow the prompts to "CHEM3801 Medicinal Chemistry."

During semester, the CHEM3801 iLearn site will be used to communicate important information to you. It is your responsibility to regularly check the iLearn site for important announcements and updates.

We will communicate with you via your university email address or through the Announcements discussion board on iLearn. Queries to the Unit Convenor can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or emailed directly to the Unit Convenor from your university email address.

Unit Textbook

"An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry" by Graham L. Patrick, Seventh Edition, Oxford University Press 2023. Note: The 6th edition is also acceptable.

The text book may be purchased from www.booktopia.com.au or other book shops. Limited copies of the text book are also available in the MQ Library.

Please check the unit iLearn page for the most up-to-date Unit Schedule.

To align the unit with the revised Macquarie University assessment principles, we have modified the unit assessments as follows:

• Mid-Session Test (15%) has been deleted
• Pharmaceutical Agent Presentation (10%) has been increased to 20% weighting
• Synthetic Routes and Risk Assessments (5%), Laboratory Notebook (15%) and Team Laboratory Report (15%) have been consolidated into a single Practical Portfolio (40%)