Molecular and Quantum Pharmacology Proceedings of the Seventh Jerusalem Symposium on Quantum Chemistry and Biochemistry Held in Jerusalem, March 31st–April 4th, 1974

The seventh Jerusalem Symposium has tried to penetrate into a field of research towards which the efforts of a large number of the most variegated modern techniques are conversing: molecular and quantum pharmacology. The hope to elucidate the mode of action of drugs, to establish correlations between the electronic and con­ formational structures of drugs and their mode of action and level of activity, to derive from these data the nature of the cellular receptors and an understanding of the interaction of the drugs with those receptors - is a strong stimulus to enlarge and deepen the research efforts with the ultimate view to rationalize the design of more efficient and more specific drugs. The Symposium represents an attempt to survey the progress made so far in this respect and the methods and efforts employed in order to arrive at even greater achievements. The presentation of this Symposium differs somewhat from that of the preceding ones. Owing to the political events which disturbed the peace in the Middle East and therefore the normal activities of commerce and industry in Israel at least temporarily, the printing and distribution of this volume were entrusted to the Reidel Publishing Company. We wish to thank them for their very efficient col1aboration and for all their efforts to publish this volume with a minimum delay.

Introductory Remarks on Pharmacological Receptors.- The Adventures of a Quantum-Chemist in the Kingdom of Pharmacophores.- Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships. An Approach to Drug Design.- Imidazole Tautomerism of Histamine Derivatives.- The Conformation of Histamine, 5-Hydroxytryptamine and Some Related Derivatives in Aqueous Solution.- Molecular Orbital Calculations on Catecholamines; Theory and Experiment.- The Conformation of Catecholamines in Solution.- Molecular Factors and Activity in Psychopharmacologically Active Compounds.- An Approach to Possible Correlations Between Activity and Conformation in Some Classes of Psychotropic Drugs.- Studies of the Conformation in Solution of Molecules Related to Acetylcholine.- Solvent-Dependent Conformational Studies of Acetylcholine and Some Related Molecules.- Theoretical Studies of Solvent Effects on the Conformational Stability of Cholinergic Molecules.- Conformational Isomerism in Drug Action: Does the Free Energy of Binding Induce the Pharmacophoric Conformation of Semi-Rigid Muscarinic Agonists?.- Studies on the Cholinergic Receptor of Squid Optic Ganglia.- Stereochemical Similarities in Chemically Different Antiepileptic Drugs.- Molecular Orbital Calculations on Anti-Epileptic Compounds.- A Conformational Study of Antihistaminic Pheniramines in Solution.- NMR Studies of Solution Conformations of Physiologically Active Amino-Acids.- The Molecular Structures of the Phenothiazine Derivatives, Chlorpromazine, Thiethylperazine and Thioridazine, and a Discussion of the Mechanism of Action.- Conformational Studies on Hormonal Peptides Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.- Conformational Studies of Cyclotetradepsipeptides and Analogues Related to Serratamolide.- Ab Initio Calculations on Large Molecules Using Molecular Fragments. Initial Studies on Prostaglandin PGF1?.- A Molecular Orbital Study of Some Substituted Benzyl Propynyl Ethers as Insecticide Synergists.- The Role of Conformation and Configuration in the Interaction of 4-Phenylpiperidines with Analgetic Receptors.- Quantum Chemical Studies of Morphine-like Opiate Narcotics: Effect of Polar Group Variations.- Calculations on Unstable Conformations of Histamine and Methylhistamines.- Model Studies on the Conformational Lability and Carbon-binding Abilities of Antibiotic Cyclic Depsipeptides.- Conformational Studies of Thyroid Hormones and Analogues.- Intermolecular Interactions in Adenine. Barbiturate Complexes.- Theory of Hydrophobic Bonding. IV: Calculation of Hydrophobic Interactions Between Hydrocarbon Molecules.- A Novel Hydrophobic Parameter for Use in Structure Activity Relationship (SAR) Studies.- Sequence Specificity in the Interaction of Actinomycin D with Deoxydinucleotides as a Model for the Binding of the Drug to DNA.- Structural Properties of Purine and Pyrimidine Analogs.- 31P-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of ATP and ATG-G-Actin: Direct Evidence for P? and P? Involvement in Nucleotide Binding.- Interest of Quantum Mechanical Calculations for the Design of Anticancerous Drugs in the Series of Ellipticines.- Non-Specific Inhalation Stimulants as a Special Case in the Theory of Anesthesia.- Theoretical Studies on the Reaction Mechanism of Cytotoxic Aromatic Nitrogen Mustards.- The Molecular Structure of the Sodium Channel.- On Mechanisms and Treatments of Metal Allergies.- Concluding Remarks.