Troubleshooting unstable molecules in chemical space.
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ABSTRACT: A key challenge in automated chemical compound space explorations is ensuring veracity in minimum energy geometries-to preserve intended bonding connectivities. We discuss an iterative high-throughput workflow for connectivity preserving geometry optimizations exploiting the nearness between quantum mechanical models. The methodology is benchmarked on the QM9 dataset comprising DFT-level properties of 133 885 small molecules, wherein 3054 have questionable geometric stability. Of these, we successfully troubleshoot 2988 molecules while maintaining a bijective mapping with the Lewis formulae. Our workflow, based on DFT and post-DFT methods, identifies 66 molecules as unstable; 52 contain -NNO-, and the rest are strained due to pyramidal sp2 C. In the curated dataset, we inspect molecules with long C-C bonds and identify ultralong candidates (r > 1.70 Å) supported by topological analysis of electron density. The proposed strategy can aid in minimizing unintended structural rearrangements during quantum chemistry big data generation.
SUBMITTER: Senthil S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8179589 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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