Alignment descriptors

After an alignment of a set of molecules known to bind to the same receptor a comparative molecular field analysis CoMFA) makes it possible to determine and visuahze molecular interaction regions involved in hgand-receptor binding [51]. Further on, statistical methods such as partial least squares regression PLS) are applied to search for a correlation between CoMFA descriptors and biological activity. The CoMFA descriptors have been one of the most widely used set of descriptors. However, their apex has been reached. 

For the calculation of grid-based descriptors it is necessary to align the ligands in the first step. If the molecules have the same skeleton, the alignment step is not critical. Otherwise, the ahgnment may be biased by the user. 

Once the molecules are aligned, a molecular field is computed on a grid of points in space around the molecule. This field must provide a description of how each molecule will tend to bind in the active site. Field descriptors typically consist of a sum of one or more spatial properties, such as steric factors, van der Waals parameters, or the electrostatic potential. The choice of grid points will also affect the quality of the final results. 

In the Fischer convention, the ermfigurations of other molecules are described by the descriptors d and L, which are assigned comparison with the reference molecule glyceraldehyde. In ertqrloying the Fischer convention, it is convenient to use projection formulas. These are planar representations defined in such a w as to convey three-dimensional structural information. The molecule is oriented with the major carbon chain aligned vertically in such a marmer that the most oxidized terminal carbon is at the top. The vertical bonds at each carbon are directed back, away fiom the viewer, and the horizontal bonds are directed toward the viewer. The D and L forms of glyceraldehyde are shown below with the equivalent Fischer projection formulas. 

Pastor, M., Cruciani, G., McLay, L, Pickett, S., Glementi, S. GRid-INdependent descriptors (GRIND) a novel class of alignment-independent three-dimensional molecular descriptors. /. Med. Chem. 2000, 43, 3233-3243. 

Thus, a molecule can be characterized in terms of its potential hydrogen bonding, polar, hydrophobic and ionic interactions in 3D space. The size and the spatial distribution of these molecular interaction contours is translated into a quantitative scheme, the VolSurf descriptors, without the need to align the molecules in 3D space [8, 9] (Fig. 17.1). 

D-molecular descriptors, alignment-independent and based on molecular interaction, called GRIND have been developed. These are autocorrelation transforms that are independent of the orientation of the molecules in 3D space. The original descriptors can be extracted from the autocorrelation transform with the ALMOND program. The basic idea is to compress the information present in 3D maps into a few 2D numerical descriptors which are very simple to understand and interpret. 

This chapter has dealt with introducing the main concepts within a theory called MQS. It has discussed the different steps to be taken to evaluate and quantify a degree of similarity between molecules in some molecular set but also fragments in molecules. QSM provides a scheme that relieves the arbitrariness of molecular similarity by using the electron density function as the sole descriptor, in agreement with the Hohenberg-Kohn theorems. It also addressed the different pitfalls that are present, for example the dependence on proper molecular alignment. 

Chemical Information, Irvine CA Tripos, Inc. St. Louis MO), similarity searching can be carried out around a well-defined compound class using local descriptors such as atom pairs [46, 47] or topomeric shape [48, 49]. Also, ligand-based pharmacophore searches are able to identify follow-up compounds that are less obvious and more diverse than similarity searches [30, 50-54]. The problem with the latter methods is defining the molecular shape or pharmacophore specifically enough to be useful when there are few hits within a compound class and they cannot be reliably aligned (as is often the case for NMR hits in the absence of detailed structural information). 

Afzelius, L., Masimieembwa, C.M., Karlen, A., Andeesson, T.B., and Zamora, 1. Discriminant and quantitative PLS analysis of competitive CYP2C9 inhibitors versus non-inhibitors using alignment independent GRIND descriptors. 

Key Words 2D-QSAR traditional QSAR 3D-QSAR nD-QSAR 4D-QSAR receptor-independent QSAR receptor-dependent QSAR high throughput screening alignment conformation chemometrics principal components analysis partial least squares artificial neural networks support vector machines Binary-QSAR selecting QSAR descriptors. 

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