This lively, highly illustrated text provides undergraduate and postgraduate students with an accessible introduction to medicinal chemistry. It covers basic principles and background, and then describes the general tactics and strategies involved in developing an effective drug. Through the use of numerous examples it highlights both the difficulties faced by the medicinal chemist and the great potential of rational drug design.This text is aimed at undergraduates who have a basic grounding in chemistry and are interested in a future career in the pharmaceutical industry and Medical College. It attempts to convey something of the fascination of working in a field which overlaps the disciplines of chemistry, biochemistry, cell biology, and pharmacology.