The concept of scaffold hopping

Scaffold hopping was originally a computational technique that identifies compounds containing a topologically different scaffold from the parent compound, but with similar or improved activity and other properties from a given database. This technique has gained increasing popularity in recent years, indicating a shift from traditional analogue design to scaffold design in the lead generation phase. Medicinal chemists can also design and synthesize scaffolds de novo, which has been practiced throughout drug discovery history. This approach requires minimal or no computational resources and is not limited by compound availability, as long as they can be synthesized within a reasonable time frame, and is of practical value to medicinal chemists.