Book excerpt: A comprehensive guide to privileged structures and their application in the discovery of new drugs The use of privileged structures is a viable strategy in the discovery of new medicines at the lead optimization stages of the drug discovery process. Privileged Structures in Drug Discovery offers a comprehensive text that reviews privileged structures from the point of view of medicinal chemistry and contains the synthetic routes to these structures. In this text, the author—a noted expert in the field—includes an historical perspective on the topic, presents a practical compendium to privileged structures, and offers an informed perspective on the future direction for the field. The book describes the up-to-date and state-of-the-art methods of organic synthesis that describe the use of privileged structures that are of most interest. Chapters included information on benzodiazepines, 1,4-dihydropyridines, biaryls, 4-(hetero)arylpiperidines, spiropiperidines, 2-aminopyrimidines, 2-aminothiazoles, 2-(hetero)arylindoles, tetrahydroisoquinolines, 2,2-dimethylbenzopyrans, hydroxamates, and bicyclic pyridines containing ring-junction nitrogen as privileged scaffolds in medicinal chemistry. Numerous, illustrative case studies document the current use of the privileged structures in the discovery of drugs. This important volume: Describes the drug compounds that have successfully made it to the marketplace and the chemistry associated with them Offers the experience from an author who has worked in many therapeutic areas of medicinal chemistry Details many of the recent developments in organic chemistry that prepare target molecules Includes a wealth of medicinal chemistry case studies that clearly illustrate the use of privileged structures Designed for use by industrial medicinal chemists and process chemists, academic organic and medicinal chemists, as well as chemistry students and faculty, Privileged Structures in Drug Discovery offers a current guide to organic synthesis methods to access the privileged structures of interest, and contains medicinal chemistry case studies that document their application.