Molecules and Medicine by Barbara Czako, E. J. Corey, Laszlo Kurti, László Kürti, Barbara Czakó

Product Details

Synopsis

Molecules and Medicine provides, for the first time ever, a completely integrated look at chemistry, biology, drug discovery, and medicine. It delves into the discovery, application, and mode of action of more than one hundred of the most significant molecules in use in modern medicine. Opening sections of the book provide a unique, clear, and concise introduction, which enables readers to understand chemical formulas.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Eugene A Davidson, PhD (Georgetown University School of Medicine)
Description:This is a picture book with explanations — various drugs are shown together with a superficial discussion of their application.
Purpose:The goal is to introduce molecules to the interested student. The hook is the medical utility of the representatives chosen, but the value of this is questionable and it is not clear that the goal is achieved.
Audience:The intended audience is undergraduate students with some passing interest in how drugs might work. Most lay readers could follow the text as well. One of the authors is a world class authority.
Features:This is basically a picture book of commonly used drugs, presenting structural and computer-derived space-filling formulas, divided into classes by their medical applications. In each target, some brief description of possible mode of action is provided. Some of the material is out of date and the choice of drugs seems entirely arbitrary (why lipitor, for example, as the only statin drug?) . Statements like "Chemistry can cure disease," while true in some circumstances, are clearly hyperbole. References are provided for each of the compounds. A serious concern is that uninitiated readers (the target audience) will acquire a very superficial and possibly misleading set of facts about one or another commercial product. "A little learning is a dangerous thing," as Alexander Pope notably stated. Physics for poets may have its place, but science deserves better.
Assessment:This effort cannot be recommended since it is overly superficial.

Biography

E. J. Corey has been a Professor at Harvard University since 1959. He was educated at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1945-1950) and served as a faculty member at the University of Illinois from1951 to 1959. He is the 1990 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, and the recipient of over seventy international awards and honorary degrees, including the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Japan Prize in Science, and the Priestley Medal of the American Chemical Society. He is amember of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Institute of Medicine. Professor Corey is the author of more than 1,000 publications and is one of the most cited authors in science.

Barbara Czakó completed undergraduate studies at the University of Debrecen, Hungary, where she worked with Dr. Sándor Berényi. She obtained a Master of Science degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia with Professor Shon R. Pulley. Dr. Czakó received her Ph.D. degree (2006) in synthetic organic chemistry under the guidance of Professor Gary A. Molander at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently she is a postdoctoral fellow with Professor E.J. Corey at Harvard University. In 2005 she published with László Kürti the textbook Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis.

László Kürti was born and raised in Hungary. He received his diploma from the University of Debrecen, Hungary, where he conducted research in the laboratory of Professor Sándor Antus. Subsequently he received his Master of Science degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia working with Professor Michael Harmata, and his Ph.D. degree (2006) in syntheticorganic chemistry under the supervision of Professor Amos B. Smith III (the University of Pennsylvania). Currently he is a Damon Runyon Cancer Fellow in the group of Professor E.J. Corey at Harvard University. In 2005 he published with Barbara Czakó the textbook Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis.