Building block (chemistry)

Building block is a term in chemistry which is used to describe a virtual molecular fragment or a real chemical compound the molecules of which possess reactive functional groups.

[8] Of special interest for this purpose are the building blocks common to known biologically active compounds, in particular, known drugs,[9] or natural products.

[10] There are algorithms for de novo design of molecular architectures by assembly of drug-derived virtual building blocks.

[14] Selection criteria applied to organic functionalized molecules to be included in the building block collections for medicinal chemistry are usually based on empirical rules aimed at drug-like properties of the final drug candidates.

[17] The building block approach to drug discovery changed the landscape of chemical industry which supports medicinal chemistry.

Construction of complex molecular architectures is easily possible using simple building blocks
An anti-diabetic drug Saxagliptin and two building blocks BB1 and BB2 from which it could be synthesized