Definition of the Term Structure Descriptor

A structure descriptor is a mathematical representation of a molecule resulting from a procedure transforming the structural information encoded within a symbolic representation of a molecule. This mathematical representation has to be invariant to the molecule s size and number of atoms, to allow model building with statistical methods and artificial neural networks. [Pg.403]

The information content of a structure descriptor depends on two major factors a) the molecular representation of the compound b) the algorithm which is used for the calculation of the descriptor. [Pg.403]