How to design a potent, specific, and stable angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-Is) are a valuable class of antihypertensive drugs used in the treatment of cardiovascular system-related diseases. Hence, constant research into, and the development of, such compounds remain within the priorities of modern medical sciences. In this respect, a thorough understanding of their chemistry and biology is an important aspect of drug design; therefore, we present here available data on the pharmaceutical properties of ACE-Is. We also review the structural and biochemical features of the molecular target of ACE-Is and demonstrate several known enzyme-inhibitor complexes. Finally, we attempt to create a mathematical model describing the relation between the potency and/or stability of ACE-Is and their structural characteristics using quantitative structure-activity relation (QSAR), and quantitative structure-property relation (QSPR) techniques.