This book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of synthetic approaches in antifungal drug discovery. Addressing the growing threat of drug-resistant fungal infections, it explores how synthetic molecules can serve as effective alternatives or complements to existing antifungal therapies. Bridging medicinal chemistry with clinical relevance, the book offers a multidisciplinary perspective spanning molecular design to real-world therapeutic applications.

Fungal infections continue to pose a significant global health challenge, particularly among immunocompromised individuals. Current antifungal therapies are limited by toxicity, a narrow spectrum of activity, and the rapid emergence of resistance. Synthetic molecules offer exciting opportunities for innovation because they can be rationally designed to target novel fungal pathways with enhanced specificity, efficacy, and safety. This book captures the rapidly evolving landscape of antifungal research by integrating global advances aimed at overcoming these therapeutic challenges.

The chapters are organized in a logical progression, beginning with antifungal resistance mechanisms and drug repurposing strategies, followed by detailed discussions on synthetic scaffolds, medicinal chemistry approaches, computational drug design tools such as molecular docking and QSAR, and concluding with translational aspects including preclinical evaluation, formulation development, and commercialization. The broad range of synthetic chemotypes and therapeutic strategies covered provides readers with a comprehensive and practical understanding of modern antifungal drug discovery.

This book will serve as an authoritative reference for medicinal chemists, microbiologists, pharmaceutical scientists, pharmacologists, infectious disease researchers, and professionals engaged in antifungal drug discovery and development. It equips the next generation of scientists and healthcare innovators with the knowledge required to advance the development of safer and more effective antifungal therapeutics.

Dr. Mohmmad Younus Wani is an Associate Professor of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry in the College of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He received his Ph.D. in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and the Texas Therapeutics Institute, UTHealth, Houston, Texas, USA, where he worked on the development of novel treatment strategies and non-traditional approaches to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Dr. Wani’s research lies at the interface of chemistry and biology, with a particular focus on medicinal chemistry, antimicrobial drug discovery, peptide therapeutics, biofilm-associated infections, and non-traditional approaches to combating antimicrobial resistance. He has authored or co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed research articles, eight books, and several U.S. patents, and has received numerous prestigious awards, honors, and competitive research grants. He serves as the Principal Investigator of a major Saudi NIH-funded project under the Pandemics and Biotechnology Research Initiative, is an active member of several international scientific societies, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous international scientific journals. Through multidisciplinary research integrating synthetic chemistry, chemical biology, and translational medicine, Dr. Wani is developing next-generation small-molecule and peptide-based therapeutics to address antimicrobial resistance in alignment with the WHO Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance.

Dr. Saif Hameed is currently Professor at the Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Haryana, India. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi and his Master’s degree with distinction from Jamia Hamdard in 2003 and 2005, respectively. He completed his Ph.D. in Life Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2010, where he also received a CSIR Research Associateship for one year of postdoctoral research. In 2008, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Institut für Mikrobiologie, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. Dr. Hameed has been teaching biochemistry and microbiology to undergraduate and postgraduate students for over 14 years. In 2012, he received the Young Scientist Award under the SERB Fast Track Scheme, Government of India. He is a life member of the International Society of Infectious Diseases (ISID), the Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI), and the Society of Biological Chemists (SBC), India. His research focuses on infectious diseases, diagnostics, and antimicrobial resistance. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, authored 35 book chapters, and written 10 books, including four published by Springer Nature and one by CRC Press (Taylor & Francis). He has successfully supervised 10 Ph.D. scholars and mentored more than 25 undergraduate and postgraduate research projects.

Dr. Muriel Billamboz is a Full Professor at JUNIA, a graduate school of science and engineering affiliated with the Université Catholique de Lille, France. She is a member of the Sustainable Chemistry and Health research team. Dr. Billamboz graduated at the top of her class in Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry from the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (ENSCL) and also ranked first in her Master’s programme in Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry in 2005. In 2006, she earned, with honors, a Mastère specializing in Drug Design from the University of Lille. She completed her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Lille in 2008. Following her doctoral studies, she joined the pharmaceutical industry as the head of a medicinal chemistry development team. In 2016, she joined JUNIA as an Assistant Professor in Sustainable Chemistry and Health and obtained her Habilitation to Direct Research (HDR) in 2018. Her research expertise encompasses the design and sustainable synthesis of small-molecule therapeutics, resulting in five patents and approximately 50 peer-reviewed publications. She has supervised numerous Master’s and Ph.D. students and is actively