Viviana Consonni – författare

Quantitative studies on structure-activity and structure-property relationships are powerful tools in directed drug research. In recent years, various strategies have been developed to characterize and classify structural patterns by means of molecular descriptors. It has become possible not only to assess diversities or similarities of structure databases, but molecular descriptors also facilitate the identification of potential bioactive molecules from the rapidly increasing number of compound libraries. They even allow for a controlled de-novo design of new lead structures. This is the most comprehensive collection of molecular descriptors and presents a detailed review from the origins of this research field up to present day. This practically oriented reference book gives a thorough overview of the different molecular descriptors representations and their corresponding molecular descriptors. All descriptors are listed with their definition, symbols and labels, formulas, some numerical examples, data and molecular graphs, while numerous figures and tables aid comprehension of the definitions. Cross-references throughout, a list of acronyms and notations allow easy access to the information needed to solve a specific research problem. Examples of descriptor calculations along with tables of descriptor values for a set of selected reference compounds and an up-to-date reference list add to the practical value of the book, making it an invaluable guide for all those dealing with bioactive molecules as well as for researchers.

Molecular Descriptors for Chemoinformatics

As every chemist knows, there is a direct (if complex) relationship between the molecular structure of a compound and its chemical behavior. Predicting such behavior is possible by an abstract representation of its structure in terms of chemical similarity parameters, socalled ‘descriptors’. These are most useful in predicting the pharmacological properties of drug candidates, but are also used in predicting reactivity, toxicity and other important chemical characteristics.

The number-one reference on the topic now contains a wealth of new data: The entire relevant literature over the past eight years has been pain-stakingly surveyed, resulting in hundreds of new descriptors being added to the list, and some 3,000 new references in the bibliography section.

Volume 1 contains an alphabetical listing of around 3300 terms for the chemoinformatic analysis of chemical compound properties, while the second volume contains 6343 references selected from 450 journals with about 7000 authors quoted covering the period from the beginning of molecular descriptor research until the year 2008.

In this second edition, several sections have been completely rewritten and organized in a more effective way. The greatly expanded introductory section now contains several “walk-through” reading lists of selected keywords to make the data even more accessible for novice users.