Explorations of molecular structure-property relationships

The problem of the relationship between the structure of a molecule and its physical, chemical, and biological properties is one of the most fundamental in chemistry. Three molecular structure-property studies are discussed as illustrations of different approaches to this problem. In the first study the carcinogenic activities of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives are examined. Molecular orbital calculations of the presumptive activation steps and species for these compounds (based on the "bay region" theory of activation) are seen to yield a surprisingly good guide to the observed carcinogenic activities. Both activation and deactivation steps are considered. The second study reviews structure-property work on the tissue solubilities of halogenated hydrocarbons. Relatively simple structural descriptors give a good account of the solubilities of these compounds in blood, muscle, fat, and liver tissue. With the aid of principal components analysis it is shown that there are two dominant dimensions to this problem, which can be interpreted in terms of solubilities of the compounds in lipid and saline environments. The final study, which examines the boiling points of aliphatic alcohols, illustrates the value of using more than one descriptor set. The (perhaps surprising) conclusion is that a theoretical model can sometimes be more accurate than the data upon which it is based. Moreover, two models are better than one.