A survey of models composed of graph neural networks and large language models for molecular science

Graphs have been demonstrated to have an impressive ability to keep the structural and semantic properties of chemical compounds and are therefore widely used in molecular modeling. Moreover, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved outstanding results in predicting molecular properties and generating textual descriptions given graphs or texts, respectively. Recently, some mathematical models have been presented for molecular science applications, which combine the GNNs ability to capture the structural and semantic information and the generative ability of LLMs. However, these models are dispersed across the literature and vary in architecture, input-output design, and application scope, making it difficult to systematically compare them or to identify suitable approaches for specific research objectives.

This paper classifies recent GNN-LLM models and summarizes them with the aim of providing guidance for research involving their use or the development of new models. We present tables that depict the properties and parameters of the models, as well as their associated chemical computational applications. In addition, a new model classification is presented to help researchers define the models they use or future ones. Finally, we quantitatively compare these models based on their reported experimental results.