Medicinal chemistry is concerned with the invention, discovery, design, identification and preparation of compounds (potential medicines) and the study of their properties. Medicinal chemists work on candidate drug molecules long before we know if it works. This is the first group of chemists that will try to produce enough of the medicine to start the first tests on toxicity. At this point, the production method for the medicine could still be far from optimal.

A chemistry-based discipline, also involving aspects of biological, medical and pharmaceutical sciences. It is concerned with the invention, discovery, design, identification and preparation of biologically active compounds, the study of their metabolism, the interpretation of their mode of action at the molecular level and the construction of structure-activity relationships.

A branch of chemistry concerned with the discovery, design, synthesis, and investigation of biologically active compounds and reactions that these compounds undergo in living things.