Application of the Baylis-Hillman reaction in the preparation of quinoline derivatives

The reaction of various 2-nitrobenzaldehyde derivatives with methyl vinyl ketone (MVK) in the presence of 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) has afforded the Baylis-Hillman adducts in moderate to good yield. Dissolution of the catalyst in the solvent before the addition of the aldehyde was observed to improve the yield. Reduction of the Baylis-Hillman adducts was effected by catalytic hydrogenation using a 10% palladium-on- carbon catalyst in ethanol to give quinoline and quinoline-N-oxide derivatives and, in some cases, acyclic reduction products. All products were characterised using NMR and, where appropriate, HRMS methods. Selected quinoline-N-oxides were successfully converted to their corresponding quinoline derivatives using phosphorus tribromide (PBr₃) and DMF as solvent. Conjugate addition of the benzylamine and piperidine nucleophiles to the Baylis-Hillman adducts was also investigated but proved problematic, with one of the substrates undergoing a retro-Baylis-Hillman reaction to afford the aldehyde in ca. 40% yield, but seemingly only traces of the required product. Perkin-type coupling of two 2-methylquinolines with benzaldehyde was successfully effected to afford the desired styrylquinoline derivatives confirming the potential of the Baylis-Hillman approach to the construction of the analogues of known HIV-1 integrase inhibitors. Three ¹³C NMR chemical shift prediction programmes, viz., Chem Window, neural network and HOSE (hierarchically ordered spherical description of environment) methods were applied to selected representative compounds prepared in the project. The results from the three programmes correlated reasonably well with the experimental carbon-13 chemical shift data for each of the selected compounds

Synthetic, spectrometric and computer modelling studies of novel ATP analogues

This study has been concerned with the design and synthesis of A TP analogues with the potential to act as inhibitors of glutamine synthetase - a novel target for therapeutic intervention in the treatment of tuberculosis. Using a structural -analogy approach, various 3-indolylalkanoic acid, benzimidazole and pyrazolo[3,4-dJpyrimidine derivatives have been prepared and characterized. Alkylation of the heterocyclic bases using 4-(bromomethyl)-2,2-dimethyl-1 ,3-d ioxolane, 2-(bromomethoxy)ethyl acetate and 2-(chloroethoxy)ethanol in the presence of either NaH or BulOK afforded the corresponding N-alkylated derivatives of benzimidazole and 4-aminopyrazolo[3,4-dJpyrimidine (4-APP). Similar reactions with 3-indo lylalkanoic esters resulted in O-alkyl cleavage with the formation of new esters. Alkylation of benzimidazole with allyl bromide, 4-bromobutene and 2-methylbut-2-ene has also been shown to afford the corresponding l-alkenylbenzimidazoles in moderate to excellent yield (43-96%). Subsequent oxidation of these products using CTAP, gave the dihydroxy derivatives in poor to good yields (26-77%). Phosphorylation of various hydroxy derivatives of benzimidazole and 4-APP has been achieved using diethyl chlorophosphate to afford the corresponding monophosphate and 1,2-diphosphate esters. Glycosylation of each of the heterocyclic bases has been successfully achieved using 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranose and SnCl4 in acetonitri le, while methanolysis of the resulting tetraacetates, using methanolic NaOMe, afforded the hydroxy derivatives in good yield (50-70%). Various 1- and 2-dimensional NMR spectroscopic methods (e.g., IH, 13C, lip, COSY, HSQC and HMBC) have been used to confirm the structures of the synthesized A IP analogues. The application of NMR prediction programmes has been explored, permitting assessment of their agreement with the experimental data and confirmation of assigned structures. High-resolution electron impact (EI) mass spectrometric data have been used to explore the mass fragmentation pathways exhibited by selected derivatives, and certain common fragmentations have been identified. Molecular modelling of selected products as potential glutamine synthetase ligands has been performed on the Accelrys Cerius2 platform, and interactive receptor-ligand docking studies have been conducted using the Ligand-Fit module. These studies have revealed possible hydrogen-boding interactions between the selected analogues and various amino acid residues in the glutamine synthetase active site

Controlling Bacterial Persister Cells and Biofilms by Synthetic Brominated Furanones

Bacteria are well known to obtain tolerance to antibiotics by forming multicellular structures, known as biofilms, and by entering dormancy and forming persister cells. Both mechanisms allow bacteria to tolerate antibiotics at concentrations hundreds to thousands of times higher than the lethal dose for regular planktonic cells of the same genotype. Persister formation increases in biofilms; thus, effective control of persister cells, especially those in biofilms is critically important to infection control. Over the past decades, a bacterial signaling system based on cell density, named quorum sensing (QS), has been found to regulate biofilm formation and, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the level of persistence. In this study, we characterized the effects of synthetic brominated furanones, a group of QS inhibitors, on the persistence of P. aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. Our results revealed that (Z)-4-bromo-5-(bromomethylene)-3-methylfuran-2(5H)-one (BF8) can reduce persister formation in P. aeruginosa PAO1 and E. coli RP437 and restore the antibiotic susceptibility of isolated persister cells at growth non-inhibitory concentrations. In addition to planktonic persister cells, BF8 was also found to reduce persister formation in the biofilms of P. aeruginosa PAO1 and E. coli RP437. Study at the genetic level using DNA microarrays demonstrated that BF8 induced the gene mdaB in both strains and 7 genes encoding oxidoreductases in P. aeruginosa. In E. coli RP437 persister cells, BF8 was also found to repress the genes for synthesizing indole, a signaling molecule reported to induce persister formation in E. coli. Interestingly, although BF8 is a QS inhibitor, the QS signal 3-oxo-C12- acyl homoserine-lactone also rendered the persister cells of P. aeruginosa PAO1 and its mucoid mutant PDO300 more sensitive to antibiotics. Furthermore, BF8 was found to have cidal effects on PDO300. Besides BF8, some other BFs were also found to restore the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa PAO1 persister cells to ciprofloxacin. Collectively, these results indicate that this group of QS inhibitors has promising activities to control multidrug tolerant persister cells; and there might be other bacterial targets of BFs in addition to QS inhibition

Structural Analysis of Reconstituted Collagen Type I - Heparin Cofibrils

Synthetic biomaterials are constantly being developed and play central roles in contemporary strategies in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering as artificial extracellular microenvironments. Such scaffolds provide 2D- and 3D-support for interaction with cells and thus convey spatial and temporal control over their function and multicellular processes, such as differentiation and morphogenesis. A model fibrillar system with tunable viscoelastic properties, comprised of 2 native ECM components like collagen type I and the GAG heparin, is presented here. Although the individual components comply with the adhesive, mechanical and bioinductive requirements for artificial reconstituted ECMs, their interaction and structural characterization remains an intriguing conundrum. The aim of the work was to analyze and structurally characterize a xenogeneic in vitro cell culture scaffold reconstituted from two native ECM components, collagen type I and the highly negatively charged glycosaminoglycan heparin. Utilizing a broad spectrum of structural analysis it could be shown that pepsin-solubilized collagen type I fibrils, reconstituted in vitro in the presence of heparin, exhibit an unusually thick and straight shape, with a non-linear dependence in size distribution, width-to-length ratio, and morphology over a wide range of GAG concentrations. The experiments imply a pronounced impact of the nucleation phase on the cofibril morphology as a result of the strong electrostatic interaction of heparin with atelocollagen. Heparin is assumed to stabilize the collagen-GAG complexes and to enhance their parallel accretion during cofibrillogenesis, furthermore corroborated by the heparin quantitation data showing the GAG to be intercalated as a linker molecule with a specific binding site inside the cofibrils. In addition, the exerted morphogenic effect of the GAG, appears to be influenced by factors as degree of sulfation, charge, and concentration. Further detailed structural analysis of the PSC-heparin gels using TEM and SFM showed a hierarchy involving 3 different structural levels and banding patterns in the system: asymmetric segment longspacing (SLS) fibrils and symmetric segments with an average periodicity (AP) of 250 - 260 nm, symmetric fibrous longspacing (FLS IV) nanofibrils with AP of 165 nm, and cofibrils exhibiting an asymmetric D-periodicity of 67 nm with a striking resemblance to the native collagen type I banding pattern. The intercalation of the high negatively charged heparin in the cofibrils was suggested as the main trigger for the hierarchical formation of the polymorphic structures. We also proposed a model explaining the unexpected presence of a symmetric and asymmetric form in the system and the principles governing the symmetric or asymmetric fate of the molecules. The last section of the experiments showed that the presence of telopeptides and heparin both had significant effects on the structural and mechanical characteristics of in vitro reconstituted fibrillar collagen type I. The implemented structural analysis showed that the presence of telopeptides in acid soluble collagen (ASC) impeded the reconstitution of D-periodic collagen fibrils in the presence of heparin, leaving behind only a symmetric polymorphic form with a repeating unit of 165 nm (FLS IV). Further x-ray diffraction analysis of both telopeptide-free and telopeptide-intact collagen fibrils showed that the absence of the flanking non-helical termini in pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC) resulted in a less compact packing of triple helices of atelocollagen with an increase of interhelical distance from 1.0 to 1.2 nm in dried samples. The looser packing of the triple helices was accompanied by a decrease in bending stiffness of the collagen fibrils, which demonstrated that the intercalated heparin cannot compensate for the depletion of telopeptides. Based on morphological, structural and mechanical differences between ASC and PSC-heparin fibrils reported here, we endorsed the idea that heparin acts as an intrafibrillar cross-linker which competed for binding sites at places along the atelocollagen helix that are occupied in vivo by telopeptides in the fibrillar collagen type I. The performed studies are of particular interest for understanding and gaining control over a rather versatile and already exploited xenogeneic cell culture system. The reconstituted cofibrils with their unusual morphology and GAG intercalation – a phenomenon not reported in vivo – are expected to exhibit interesting biochemical behavior as a biomaterial for ECM scaffolds. Varying the experimental conditions, extent of telopeptide removal, and heparin concentration provides powerful means to control the kinetics, structure, dimensions, as well as mechanical properties of the system which is particularly important for predicting a certain cell behavior towards the newly developed matrix. The GAG intercalation could be interesting for studies with required long-term 'release upon demand' of the GAG, as well as native binding and stabilization of growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, thus providing a secondary tool to control cell signaling and fate, and later on tissue morphogenesis.Synthetische Biomaterialien werden stetig weiterentwickelt und spielen als künstliche Mikroumgebungen eine zentrale Rolle in den modernen Strategien der regenerativen Medizin und des Tissue Engineerings. Solche sogenannten Scaffolds liefern eine 2D- und 3D-Struktur zur Interaktion mit Zellen und üben somit eine räumliche und zeitliche Kontrolle auf ihre Funktion und multizelluläre Prozesse aus, wie die Differenzierung und Morphogenese. Obwohl häufig die adhäsiven, mechanischen und bioinduzierenden Eigenschaften von Einzelkomponenten aus natürlichen Bestandteilen der extrazellulären Matrix (ECM) rekonstituierten Trägerstrukturen bekannt sind, bleiben die funktionalen und strukturellen Auswirkungen in Mehrkomponentensystemen eine faszinierende Fragestellung. Das Ziel der Arbeit war die Analyse und die strukturelle Charakterisierung einer xenogenen in vitro Zellkultur-Trägerstruktur, die aus den zwei nativen ECM Komponenten Kollagen Typ I und das stark negativ geladene Glykosaminoglykan (GAG) Heparin rekonstituiert wurde. Unter Nutzung eines breiten Spektrums von Methoden zur strukturellen Analyse konnte gezeigt werden, dass im Beisein von Heparin rekonstituierte Pepsin-gelöste Kollagen Typ I Fibrillen eine ungewöhnlich dicke und gerade Form, mit nichtlinearen Abhängigkeiten der Größenverteilung, des Breite-zu-Länge Verhältnises und der Morphologie für eine Reihe von GAG Konzentrationen, aufweisen. Die Experimente deuten auf eine besondere Wirkung der Nukleierungsphase auf die Kofibrillmorphologie hin, als Folge der starken elektrostatischen Inteaktionen Heparins mit Atelokollagen. Es wird angenommen, dass Heparin die Komplexe aus Kollagen-GAG stabilisiert, die parallele Anlagerung während der Kofibrillogenese verbessert und dass überdies, belegt durch Heparin Quantitätsdaten, als Verbindungsmolekül mit einer spezifischen Anbindungsstelle innerhalb der Kofibrillen eingelagert wird. Darüber hinaus scheint der ausgeübte morphogene Effekt des GAGs Heparins von Faktoren wie Grad der Sulfatierung, Ladung und Konzentration abzuhängen. Weitere detailierte Strukturanalysen der PSC - Heparin Gele mit TEM und SFM zeigten eine Hierarchie mit drei unterschiedlichen strukturellen Ebenen und Bandmustern im System: asymmetrisch segmentierte, weitabständige Fibrillen (SLS) und symmetrische Segmente mit einem AP von 250-260 nm, symmetrische fibrose weitabständige (FLS IV) Nanofibrillen mit einem AP von von 165 nm und Kofibrillen asymmetrischer D-Periodizität von 67 nm, die eine erstaunliche Ähnlichkeit zum natürlichen Kollagen Typ I Bandmuster haben. Die Einlagerung des sehr negativ geladenen Heparins in die Kofibrillen wurde als Hauptauslöser der hierarchischen Formation der polymorphen Strukturen betrachtet. Wir schlugen ebenso ein Model vor, welches sowohl das unerwartete Vorhandensein symmetrischer und asymmetrischer Formen im System als auch die Regeln erklärt, die das symmetrische oder asymmetrische Schicksal der Moleküle steuern. Der letzte Abschnitt der Experimente zeigte, dass die Anwesenheit der Telopeptide und Heparins eine signifikante Wirkung auf die strukturellen und mechanischen Charakteristika der in vitro rekonstituierten Kollagen Typ I Fibrillen hatte. Die durchgeführten Strukturanalysen zeigten außerdem, dass die Anwesenheit der Telopeptide in säurelöslichem Kollagen (ASC) die Rekonstitution D-periodischer Kollagenfibrillen mit Heparin verhinderte, sodass nur symmetrisch polymorphe Formen mit einer Wiederholeinheit von 165 nm möglich waren (FLS IV). Weitere Messungen der Telopeptid-freien und Telopeptid-intakten Kollagenfibrillen mit Röntgendiffraktometrie ergaben, dass die Abwesenheit der nicht-helix-strukturierten Enden in Pepsin-gelöstem Kollagen (PSC) zu einer weniger kompakten Anordnung der Tripelhelices von Atelokollagen führte. Der interhelix Abstand erhöhte sich von 1,0 zu 1,2 nm für getrocknete Proben. Das zeigt, dass die losere Anordnung der Tripelhelices einhergeht mit der Verringerung der Biege-Elastizitäts-module der Kollagenfibrillen,. Basierend auf den hier vorgestellten morphologischen, strukturellen und mechanischen Unterschieden zwischen ASC und PSC-Heparin Fibrillen wird die Idee unterstützt, dass Heparin als intrafibrillärer Vernetzer fungiert und an Bindungsstellen der Helix bindet, welche in vivo bei Kollagen Typ I Fibrillen durch Telopeptide besetzt sind. Die durchgeführten Studien sind von besonderem Interesse für das Verständnis und die Steuerung eines sehr vielseitigen und bereits verwendeten xenogenes Zellkultursystem für das Tissue Engineering. Von den rekonstituierten Kofibrillen mit ihrer ungewöhnlichen Morphologie und GAG Einlagerung - ein in vivo nicht bekanntes Phänomen - erwartet man, dass sie ein intressantes biochemisches Verhalten als Biomaterial für ECM Scaffolds zeigen. Variationen der experimentellen Bedingungen, des Ausmaßes der Telopeptidentfernung und der Heparinkonzentration liefern vielfältige Möglichkeiten um die Kinetik, Struktur, Dimension sowie die mechanischen Eigenschaften des Systems zu kontrollieren. Damit sollte es möglich sein, ein bestimmtes Zellverhalten gegenüber der neu entwickelten Matrix vorherzusagen. Die GAG-Einlagerung bietet interessante Optionen für eine langfristige Freisetzung des GAGs 'on demand', sowie die native Bindung und Stabilisierung von Wachstumsfaktoren, Cytokinen, Chemokinen, womit zusätzlich Zellsignalisierung und -schicksal und später Gewebemorphogenese kontrolliert werden kann

The pyrrolizidine alkaloids of Senecio chrysocoma and Senecio paniculatus

In order to compare the pyrrolizidine alkaloid content of two closely related species, Senecio chrysocoma and S. paniculatus, nine populations of plants distributed between the two species, were examined. Three novel pyrrolizidine alkaloids, 7ß-angelyl-l-methylene-8∝-pyrrolizidine, 7ß-angelyl-l-methylene-8∝-pyrrolizidine and 7ß-angelyl-l-methyleneSO!-pyrrolizidine-4-oxide, as well as eight known pyrrolizidine alkaloids, 7-angelylhastanecine, 9-angelylhastanecine, 7-angelylplatynecine, 9-angelylplatynecine, 9-angelylplatynecine-4-oxide, sarracine, neosarracine and retrorsine, were isolated and identified by NMR and GC-MS techniques. Traces of five tiglyl isomers, 9-tiglylplatynecine, 9-tigl ylplatynecine-4-oxide, 7ß-tiglyl-l-methylene-8∝-pyrrolizidine, sarranicine and neosarranicine, were also isolated and tentatively identified; however, these compounds could have been artefacts of the extraction and analytical procedures. While both species of plant investigated, S. chrysocoma and S. paniculatus, were found to be morphologically different, their pyrrolizidine alkaloid content was, in fact, very similar. The presence of retrorsine in S. paniculatus plant extracts, but not in those from S. chrysocoma plants, was the only major chemical difference observed. It is perhaps significant that retrorsine was the only macrocyclic pyrrolizidine to be identified. A comprehensive, computerised database of physical data for pyrrolizidine alkaloids has been compiled, which has facilitated the identification of new pyrrolizidines and the examination of trends in proton and carbon-13 NMR data for pyrrolizidine alkaloids. A stereospecific synthesis of 7ß-angelyl-l-methylene-8∝-pyrrolizidine was undertaken toconfirm the absolute stereochemistry of the product isolated from S. chrysocoma and S. paniculatus. An inseparable 5:2 mixture of 7ß-angelyl-l-methylene-8∝-pyrrolizidine and 7ß-angelyl-l,2-didehydro-l-methyl-8∝-pyrrolizidine, together with a small amount of tiglyl isomer, was finally synthesised. The application of various chiral differentiating chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques confirmed that both the natural and synthetic products had the same stereochemistry, permitting the natural alkaloid to be identified as 7ß-angelyl-methylene-8∝-pyrrol izidin

Allosterisch/orthosterische Hybridliganden des muskarinischen Acetylcholinrezeptors : Rezeptorbindung und -aktivierung

In Bezug auf die allosterische Bindungsstelle G-Protein-gekoppelter Rezeptoren sind muskarinische Acetylcholinrezeptoren die am besten untersuchte Rezeptor-Familie. Da die meisten allosterischen Modulatoren die höchste Affinität zum M2-Rezeptor aufweisen, stand dieser Subtyp im Mittelpunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit. Die räumliche Nähe der im Bereich der extrazellulären Schleifen angesiedelten allosterischen Bindungsstelle zum orthosterischen Haftareal, das sich im oberen Drittel der transmembranären Domänen befindet, führte zur Entwicklung sogenannter Hybridliganden. Diese entstanden durch kovalente Verbindung eines orthosterischen, muskarinischen Antagonisten oder Agonisten mit einem wesentlichen Strukturelement der zu den Alkan-Bisammonium-Verbindungen gehörenden allosterischen Antagonisten W84 oder Naphmethonium. Durch die Hybridbildung sollte eine Überbrückung beider Bindungsstellen ermöglicht und so dem orthosterischen Liganden zu einer besseren Haftung am Rezeptor und einer höheren Subtypselektivität verholfen werden. In einer vorangegangenen Arbeit hatte sich gezeigt, dass Hybride aus dem muskarinischen Antagonisten AF-DX 384 und unterschiedlich langen Strukturelementen von W84 nicht die Affinität der Muttersubstanz AF-DX 384 zum freien M2-Rezeptor erreichten (M. Mohr, (2004) Dissertationsschrift Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn). Daher wurde postuliert, dass diese Hybride in der allosterischen Bindungsstelle festgehalten wurden. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit sollte in Radioligandbindungsstudien an Herzventrikelgewebe des Hausschweins mit [3H]NMS als Sonde untersucht werden, welche Bindungseigenschaften ein Hybrid mit einer verlängerten Zwischenkette innerhalb der AF-DX 384-Struktur besaß. Dabei zeigte sich, dass dieses Hybrid eine um mehr als eine Dekade höhere Affinität zum M2-Rezeptor aufwies, als vorher für das analoge Hybrid gefunden wurde. Somit führte die Kettenverlängerung zu einer besseren Überbrückung der allosterischen und orthosterischen Bindungsstelle. Im Hauptteil dieser Arbeit wurden Hybride getestet, in denen unterschiedliche Oxotremorin-M-artige Agonisten kovalent mit einem konstanten Strukturanteil von W84 oder Naphmethonium verknüpft waren. Da die Hybride eine agonistische und eine antagonistische Strukturkomponente vereinigten, waren [35S]GTPγS-Bindungsexperimente an Membransuspensionen aus stabil mit dem M2-Rezeptor-Gen transfizierten CHO-Zellen ein geeignetes Versuchssystem, um die Fähigkeit dieser Verbindungen bezüglich der Rezeptoraktivierung zu untersuchen. Bei keinem der getesteten Hybride kam es durch die allosterische Komponente zu einer vollständigen Auslöschung der intrinsischen Aktivität. Es konnten zwei vollagonistische Hybride identifiziert werden, die sich von dem sehr aktiven Oxotremorin-M-Derivat Iperoxo ableiteten. Allerdings kam es durch die Hybridbildung zu einer signifikanten Verminderung der Wirksamkeit (pEC50) im Vergleich zur Muttersubstanz Iperoxo. Hybride, die entweder die Oxotremorin-M-Struktur selbst oder weitere Derivate davon enthielten, wurden als Partialagonisten identifiziert. Die Verkürzung eines von Iperoxo abgeleiteten Hybrids um zwei Methylengruppen hatte keinen Einfluss auf die intrinsische Aktivität (Emax) und die Wirksamkeit. Hingegen führte eine umfassendere Verkürzung um sechs Methylengruppen und einen quartären Stickstoff zu einer starken Verminderung der intrinsischen Aktivität. In Interaktionsexperimenten wurden die allosterischen Liganden W84 und Naphmethonium sowie der orthosterische Ligand Atropin als Werkzeuge zur Definition des allosterischen bzw. orthosterischen Haftareals eingesetzt. Die Interaktion der Hybride mit den allosterischen Liganden ergab einen Hinweis, dass die Hybride an das allosterische Haftareal binden. Die Interaktion mit Atropin lässt die Schlussfolgerung zu, dass die Hybride den Rezeptor über die orthosterische Bindungsstelle aktivieren

Machine learning methods for quantitative structure-property relationship modeling

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Bioinformática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014Due to the high rate of new compounds discovered each day and the morosity/cost of experimental measurements there will always be a significant gap between the number of known chemical compounds and the amount of chemical compounds for which experimental properties are available. This research work is motivated by the fact that the development of new methods for predicting properties and organize huge collections of molecules to reveal certain chemical categories/patterns and select diverse/representative samples for exploratory experiments are becoming essential. This work aims to increase the capability to predict physical, chemical and biological properties, using data mining methods applied to complex non-homogeneous data (chemical structures), for large information repositories. In the first phase of this work, current methodologies in quantitative structure-property modelling were studied. These methodologies attempt to relate a set of selected structure-derived features of a compound to its property using model-based learning. This work focused on solving major issues identified when predicting properties of chemical compounds and on the solutions explored using different molecular representations, feature selection techniques and data mining approaches. In this context, an innovative hybrid approach was proposed in order to improve the prediction power and comprehensibility of QSPR/QSAR problems using Random Forests for feature selection. It is acknowledged that, in general, similar molecules tend to have similar properties; therefore, on the second phase of this work, an instance-based machine learning methodology for predicting properties of compounds using the similarity-based molecular space was developed. However, this type of methodology requires the quantification of structural similarity between molecules, which is often subjective, ambiguous and relies upon comparative judgements, and consequently, there is currently no absolute standard of molecular similarity. In this context, a new similarity method was developed, the non-contiguous atom matching (NAMS), based on the optimal atom alignment using pairwise matching algorithms that take into account both topological profiles and atoms/bonds characteristics. NAMS can then be used for property inference over the molecular metric space using ordinary kriging in order to obtain robust and interpretable predictive results, providing a better understanding of the underlying relationship structure-property.Devido ao crescimento exponencial do número de compostos químicos descobertos diariamente e à morosidade/custo de medições experimentais, existe uma diferença significativa entre o número de compostos químicos conhecidos e a quantidade de compostos para os quais estão disponíveis propriedades experimentais. O desenvolvimento de novos métodos para a previsão de propriedades e organização de grandes coleções de moléculas que permitam revelar certas categorias/padrões químicos e selecionar amostras diversas/representativas para estudos exploratórios estão a tornar-se essenciais. Este trabalho tem como objetivo melhorar a capacidade de prever propriedades físicas, químicas e biológicas, através de métodos de aprendizagem automática aplicados a dados complexos não homogeneos (estruturas químicas), para grandes repositórios de informação. Numa primeira fase deste trabalho, foi feito o estudo de metodologias atualmente aplicadas para a modelação quantitativa entre estruturapropriedades. Estas metodologias tentam relacionar um conjunto seleccionado de descritores estruturais de uma molécula com as suas propriedades, utilizando uma abordagem baseada em modelos. Este trabalho centrou-se em solucionar as principais dificuldades identificadas na previsão de propriedades de compostos químicos e nas soluções exploradas utilizando diferentes representações moleculares, técnicas de seleção de descritores e abordagens de aprendizagem automática. Neste contexto, foi proposta uma abordagem híbrida inovadora para melhorar o capacidade de previsão e compreensão de problemas QSPR/QSAR utilizando o algoritmo "Random Forests" (Florestas Aleatórias) para seleção de descritores. É reconhecido que, em geral, moléculas semelhantes tendem a ter propriedades semelhantes; assim, numa segunda fase deste trabalho foi desenvolvida uma metodologia de aprendizagem automática baseada em instâncias para a previsão de propriedades de compostos químicos utilizando o espaço métrico construído a partir da semelhança estrutural entre moléculas. No entanto, este tipo de metodologia requer a quantificação de semelhança estrutural entre moléculas, o que é muitas vezes uma tarefa subjetiva, ambígua e dependente de julgamentos comparativos e, consequentemente, não existe atualmente nenhum padrão absoluto para definir semelhança molecular. Neste âmbito, foi desenvolvido um novo método de semelhança molecular, o “Non-Contiguous Atom Matching Structural Similarity” (NAMS), que se baseia no alinhamento de átomos utilizando algoritmos de emparelhamento que têm em conta os perfis topológicos das ligações e as características dos átomos e ligações. O espaço métrico molecular construído utilizando o NAMS pode ser aplicado à inferência de propriedades usando uma técnica de interpolação espacial, a "krigagem", que tem em conta a relação espacial entre as instâncias, com o objetivo de se obter uma previsão consistente e interpretável, proporcionando uma melhor compreensão da relação entre estrutura-propriedades.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT