Is Rational Design Good for Anything?
Donald B. Boyd · ACS symposium series · 1999
An overview is given of some documentable examples where rational approaches have been significantly influential in the drug discovery process. The scope of rational design is defined to include not only computational chemistry and structure determination, but also other nonrandom approaches. In contrast to the enumerated successes, a case study is used to illustrate how quantitative analysis can be used to reveal when a strategy for finding a drug may be untenable. An attempt is made to prognosticate the evolving role of rational design in the new era of combinatorial chemistry.