Compound library design diversity-based

Schnur, D. (1999) Design and diversity analysis of large compound libraries using cell-based methods. J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 39, 36-45. 

Since diversity is a collective property, its precise quantification requires a mathematical description of the distribution of the molecular collection in a chemical space. When a set of molecules are considered to be more diverse than another, the molecules in this set cover more chemical space and/or the molecules distribute more evenly in chemical space. Historically, diversity analysis is closely linked to compound selection and combinatorial library design. In reality, library design is also a selection process, selecting compounds from a virtual library before synthesis. There are three main categories of selection procedures for building a diverse set of compounds cluster-based selection, partition-based selection, and dissimilarity-based selection. 

The advent of more accurate and rapid tools in chemoin-formatics and virtual screening makes it possible to design and synthesize a small subset of representative compounds (focused library) of a larger library. Out of various improved methods these two diversity- or structure-based approaches are frequently exercised in the design of a focused library. Once the 3D coordinates of a protein target are determined by either X-ray crystal structures or NMR, a structure-based library design is a more productive and viable approach. 

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