QSAR Flashcards
1
Q
Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship
A
- What are they
- Molecular Geometry
- 3D structure optimisation
- Molecular descriptors
- The process of QSAR analysis
2
Q
QSAR- the principle
A
- You have at your disposal a set of existing compounds where the biological activity has already been measured
- How can you use this information to decide which compounds to make and test next
- draw the structures of the compounds and optimise their 3D geometries
- Calculate molecular properties
- Use the descriptors together with the biological data to derive equations that predict the biological activity
- Calculate the descriptors for new compounds and use the equation to predict their biological activities
3
Q
Important note
A
- QSAR does not require any knowledge of the receptor, active site or mechanism of action
- Only the structure of a set of compounds of known biological activity are required
- It is necessary, however, that the compounds all act in the same way at the same receptor or active site
4
Q
General procedure
A
- Select a set of molecules interacting with the same receptor with known activities =>
- Calculate features (e.g. physicochemical properties)
- Divide the set into 2. One for testing and on for training
- Training set: Build a model- find the mathematical relationship between the activities and properties
- test the model on the test dataset
- Testing set:
5
Q
Preparation of the structures (structures of known biological activity)
A
- Draw the compounds
- Clean up the structure of performing a molecular mechanics geometry optimisation
- Change the geometry to minimise the energy of the molecule
- Identify key rotatable bonds and perform a conformation search**
- Perform a semi-empirical quantum mechanical (calculate energy difference once the confirmation has occurred- if the energy lowers it is more correct) geometry optimisation on the lowest energy conformation identified in step 3
- NB** see molecular mechanisms geometry optimisation
6
Q
Molecular mechanics geometry optimisation
A
- Considers atoms as balls and bond as springs
- Does not consider the electrons
- Fast
- Low quality but OK for a quick clean up of a drawn structure
7
Q
Semi-Empirical quantam mechanical geometry optimisation
A
- The valence electrons (outer shell- governs bonding of the molecule) are used to construct molecular orbitals
- The inner electrons are approximated via a parameter set
- Slower than MM (molecular mechanics) but much better quality
- Several hours per molecule
8
Q
Why is conformation important
A
- At room temperature, the lowest energy conformer prevails
- We want the molecular properties to be calculated from a relevant conformation
*
9
Q
Which conformation should be used
A
- All energy minimisation techniques concentrate on searching downhill- they therefore tend to find the nearest local minimum on the energy surface
- If a much deeper (i.e. better) energy minimum is nearby, but separated from the starting point by a high energy barrier, it will not be found
- Energy minimization is therefore not capable of finding the global energy minimum. Therefore we must use conformation searching
- NB- most drugs conformation they have when they are active tend to be the same as those in the global minimum energy conformation
10
Q
Conformation searching
A
- Each rotatable in turn bond is stepped round in small increments and the energies of the resulting conformations are calculated
- This is used to find the approximate position of the GLOBAL MINIMUM ENERGY POTENTIAL WELL
- After that a high quality energy-minimisation technique can be used to refine the structure down to the global minimum energy conformation (E.g. Semi-empirical quantum mechanical geometry optimisation)
11
Q
Conformation searching- Exhaustive searching of rotatable bonds
A
- Conformational explosion
- 1 rotatable bond/ 5 steps => 72 conformations
- 2 rotatable bonds/ 5 steps => 5184 conformations (722)
- 8 rotatable bonds/ 5 steps => 722204136208736 (728)
- Potential energy surface from 2 search labels
- Cannot be done for drugs with many rotatable bond due to the large amount of time it would take to complete
12
Q
A
- Input the 3D structure
- Align the molecules about their common core (because some properties are vectorised)- define what the core is
- Add the biological activity
- Calculate the molecular descriptors
- Use multiple regression analysis to derive an equation relating the biological activity to the calculated properties
13
Q
Molecular descriptors- examples DONT NEED TO REMEMBER ALL OF THESE
A
14
Q
Molecular descriptors- examples
A
- Consititutional
- Geometrical
- Topological
- Electrostatic
- Quantum-chemical
- Miscellaneous
- Solubility
- Electronic
- Lipophilic
- Steric
15
Q
Molecular descriptor- examples
A