The chemistry of heterocycles is an important branch of organic chemistry. This is due to the fact that a large number of natural products, e. g.<br>hormones, antibiotics, vitamins, etc. are composed of heterocyclic structures. Often, these compounds show beneficial properties and are therefore applied as pharmaceuticals to treat diseases or as insecticides, herbicides or fungicides in crop protection.<br>This volume presents important pharmaceuticals. Each of the 20 chapters covers in a concise manner one class of heterocycles, clearly structuredas follows:<br><br>* Structural formulas of most important examples (market products)<br>* Short background of history or discovery<br>* Typical syntheses of important examples<br>* Mode of action<br>* Characteristic biological activity<br>* Structure-activity relationship<br>* Additional chemistry information (e.g. further transformations, alternative syntheses, metabolic pathways, etc.)<br>* References.<br><br>A valuable one-stop reference source for researchers in academia and industry as well as for graduate students with career aspirations in the<br>pharmaceutical chemistry.