Solvent

A solvent is a substance, typically a liquid, that serves as a medium to dissolve a solute, forming a solution. In pharmacology and drug discovery, solvents such as water, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethanol, and methanol are used as vehicles for drug formulation, delivery, and in vitro biochemical assays. Solvent molecules are not biological targets (such as receptors or enzymes); rather, they provide the chemical environment necessary for drug-target interactions to occur. The 'solvent effect' is a critical factor in medicinal chemistry, as the desolvation of a ligand and its target is a major thermodynamic driver of binding affinity. While certain experimental techniques like solvent-induced protein precipitation (SIP) use organic solvents to identify protein targets by their differential stability, the solvent itself does not perform a therapeutic biological function.

Other names

Chemical solventSolvent vehicleReaction mediumSolvation shell

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