Mentoring an Undergraduate Research Student in the Structural and Nonstructural Properties of Drugs

Research at a small campus of a university can be challenging with undergraduate science majors who have only completed one year of biology and chemistry and who leave the campus after their second year. There are time issues in regards to both the instructor and the student's schedule, and the knowledge of the student requires that the student works with a mentor instead of alone. The purpose of the research described in this article was to investigate, with an undergraduate, the structural and nonstructural properties of drugs through a study of the research literature. Examination of 31 drugs provided the initial structural characteristics to be investigated. Further literature research of 5000 drugs emphasized the importance of the nonstructural characteristics of drugs. This article describes the structural and nonstructural characteristics and explains their significance in drug research.