Stochastic voyages into uncharted chemical space produce a representative library of all possible drug-like compounds

J Am Chem Soc. 2013 May 15;135(19):7296-303. doi: 10.1021/ja401184g. Epub 2013 May 2.

Abstract

The "small molecule universe" (SMU), the set of all synthetically feasible organic molecules of 500 Da molecular weight or less, is estimated to contain over 10(60) structures, making exhaustive searches for structures of interest impractical. Here, we describe the construction of a "representative universal library" spanning the SMU that samples the full extent of feasible small molecule chemistries. This library was generated using the newly developed Algorithm for Chemical Space Exploration with Stochastic Search (ACSESS). ACSESS makes two important contributions to chemical space exploration: it allows the systematic search of the unexplored regions of the small molecule universe, and it facilitates the mining of chemical libraries that do not yet exist, providing a near-infinite source of diverse novel compounds.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Drug Design*
  • Small Molecule Libraries / chemistry*
  • Stochastic Processes

Substances

  • Small Molecule Libraries