Preface
The main rationale for this book was to bring together the intentional design and
development aspects of small molecules with actual or potential synergistic multiple
modes of action in the context of antibacterial results. With the ever increasing
health threat from multi-drug-resistant human pathogenic bacteria, this is a pressing
issue for researchers. The stress in this book is on design principles and ideas rather
than a comprehensive review compilation. There is some coverage of dual activity
approaches in the book, but this area has been well reviewed previously so dual
activity design ideas are used mainly as a springboard for higher-order design guidelines. Thus, the book highlights known and possible ways to achieve triple or higher
activities, including activities which are directly antibacterial or which indirectly
assist such activity, and focussing on medicinal chemistry aspects. The book covers
underlying design aspects for combinations of drugs, single molecule hybrids with
actual or potential multiple actions, prodrugs which could provide access in situ to
multiple interactions, and future design possibilities based mainly on new activity
pathways. Interdisciplinary aspects are also covered in sufficient depth to adequately
inform the medicinal chemistry design.
Writing a book is like climbing a mountain. Sometimes, though, even the base
camp seems beyond reach, but hopefully this book will help to suitably position
readers at this camp to explore the many different possible routes to the summit.
The photographs at the start of Chaps. 2 and 4, and the images in Figs. 1.2 and 1.3
were purchased from Shutterstock, and I thank Dr. David Rhodes for the photograph
heading Chap. 1 and Mrs. Susan Bremner for those at the beginning of Chaps. 3
and 5. I also thank the editor of the Srinakharinwirot University Science Journal for
permission to use a Scheme and Figures from Bremner 2017 (SWU Sc J 33(1):1–
19) as Scheme 4.1 and Figs. 3.5, 3.12, 3.19, 3.22, 3.28–3.30a, b and 3.32–3.33 in
this book.
I would like to gratefully acknowledge students and fellow staff at the University of Wollongong for their help through discussions and collaborative research
over many years which has been such an inspiration and encouragement. I would
also like to sincerely acknowledge my past teachers and mentors, and students and
colleagues at the University of Tasmania and many other institutions both in Australia
and abroad, who have contributed so much. Invaluable assistance from Associate
vii
The main rationale for this book was to bring together the intentional design and
development aspects of small molecules with actual or potential synergistic multiple
modes of action in the context of antibacterial results. With the ever increasing
health threat from multi-drug-resistant human pathogenic bacteria, this is a pressing
issue for researchers. The stress in this book is on design principles and ideas rather
than a comprehensive review compilation. There is some coverage of dual activity
approaches in the book, but this area has been well reviewed previously so dual
activity design ideas are used mainly as a springboard for higher-order design guidelines. Thus, the book highlights known and possible ways to achieve triple or higher
activities, including activities which are directly antibacterial or which indirectly
assist such activity, and focussing on medicinal chemistry aspects. The book covers
underlying design aspects for combinations of drugs, single molecule hybrids with
actual or potential multiple actions, prodrugs which could provide access in situ to
multiple interactions, and future design possibilities based mainly on new activity
pathways. Interdisciplinary aspects are also covered in sufficient depth to adequately
inform the medicinal chemistry design.
Writing a book is like climbing a mountain. Sometimes, though, even the base
camp seems beyond reach, but hopefully this book will help to suitably position
readers at this camp to explore the many different possible routes to the summit.
The photographs at the start of Chaps. 2 and 4, and the images in Figs. 1.2 and 1.3
were purchased from Shutterstock, and I thank Dr. David Rhodes for the photograph
heading Chap. 1 and Mrs. Susan Bremner for those at the beginning of Chaps. 3
and 5. I also thank the editor of the Srinakharinwirot University Science Journal for
permission to use a Scheme and Figures from Bremner 2017 (SWU Sc J 33(1):1–
19) as Scheme 4.1 and Figs. 3.5, 3.12, 3.19, 3.22, 3.28–3.30a, b and 3.32–3.33 in
this book.
I would like to gratefully acknowledge students and fellow staff at the University of Wollongong for their help through discussions and collaborative research
over many years which has been such an inspiration and encouragement. I would
also like to sincerely acknowledge my past teachers and mentors, and students and
colleagues at the University of Tasmania and many other institutions both in Australia
and abroad, who have contributed so much. Invaluable assistance from Associate
vii