PhLE Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, QA Review

PhLE Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, QA Review

PhLE remaining subjects: Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacognosy + Plant Chemistry, QA/QC + Drug Microbiology.

Pharmaceutical Chemistry

What PRC asks

• Drug structures + functional groups (~15 items)
• Drug synthesis pathways (~10 items)
• Mechanisms of action at molecular level (~10 items)
• SAR (structure-activity relationships) (~8 items)
• Inorganic pharmaceutical chemistry (~7 items)

Key topics

• Functional groups in drug molecules
• Carboxylic acids, amides, esters, ethers in drugs
• Heterocyclic compounds
• Drug metabolism (Phase I, Phase II)
• Prodrugs

Pharmacognosy + Plant Chemistry

What PRC asks

• Major medicinal plants + active constituents (~15 items)
• Crude drug evaluation (~8 items)
• Alkaloids + glycosides classification (~10 items)
• Volatile oils, fixed oils (~5 items)
• Tannins, flavonoids (~5 items)
• Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins from plants (~7 items)

Key topics

• Alkaloids: tropane, isoquinoline, indole, purine
• Glycosides: cardiac (digitalis), cyanogenic, anthraquinone
• Volatile oils: peppermint, eucalyptus, etc.
• Antimalarial drugs from plants
• Antitumor drugs from plants

QA/QC + Drug Microbiology

What PRC asks

• USP standards (~10 items)
• Pharmacopoeial methods (~8 items)
• Sterility testing (~6 items)
• Microbial limit tests (~5 items)
• Stability testing (~5 items)
• Bacteria, fungi, virus basics (~10 items)
• Sterilisation methods (~8 items)

Key topics

• Compendial standards
• Test methods (titration, chromatography, spectroscopy basics)
• Sterility test procedures
• Pyrogen testing (LAL test)
• Sterilisation (autoclave, dry heat, gamma irradiation)

A 5-week combined drilling plan

Realistic scores

Where Super Tutor fits

Super Tutor's PhLE track covers Chemistry + Pharmacognosy + QA.

What to read next

The PhLE 2026 pillar guide covers the full review.