Biomaterial Database

There is no such thing as 'diversity'! 2005

Hans-Jörg Roth

Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Lead Synthesis & Chemogenetics, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland. hansjoerg.roth@novartis.com

Within the context of the increasing application of combinatorial methodology, the term 'diversity' has gained significant importance. The general understanding of this term is that diversity describes the degree of dissimilarity within a set of chemical structures. This Opinion article proposes that this understanding is superficial at best and irrelevant at worst. It is argued that relevant diversity can only be measured by the application of external criteria (such as a biological assay), which can discriminate the different structures by their different behaviour within this external context. According to this understanding, the diversity of a collection is highly dependent on the applied criteria. Therefore, a relevant diversity of chemical structures, per se, does not exist.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D013329	Structure-Activity Relationship	The relationship between the chemical structure of a compound and its biological or pharmacological activity. Compounds are often classed together because they have structural characteristics in common including shape, size, stereochemical arrangement, and distribution of functional groups.	Relationship, Structure-Activity,Relationships, Structure-Activity,Structure Activity Relationship,Structure-Activity Relationships
D015195	Drug Design	The molecular designing of drugs for specific purposes (such as DNA-binding, enzyme inhibition, anti-cancer efficacy, etc.) based on knowledge of molecular properties such as activity of functional groups, molecular geometry, and electronic structure, and also on information cataloged on analogous molecules. Drug design is generally computer-assisted molecular modeling and does not include PHARMACOKINETICS, dosage analysis, or drug administration analysis.	Computer-Aided Drug Design,Computerized Drug Design,Drug Modeling,Pharmaceutical Design,Computer Aided Drug Design,Computer-Aided Drug Designs,Computerized Drug Designs,Design, Pharmaceutical,Drug Design, Computer-Aided,Drug Design, Computerized,Drug Designs,Drug Modelings,Pharmaceutical Designs
D015394	Molecular Structure	The location of the atoms, groups or ions relative to one another in a molecule, as well as the number, type and location of covalent bonds.	Structure, Molecular,Molecular Structures,Structures, Molecular
D020650	Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques	A technology, in which sets of reactions for solution or solid-phase synthesis, is used to create molecular libraries for analysis of compounds on a large scale.	Chemistry Techniques, Combinatorial,Techniques, Combinatorial Chemistry,Chemistry Technic, Combinatorial,Chemistry Technics, Combinatorial,Chemistry Technique, Combinatorial,Combinatorial Chemistry Technic,Combinatorial Chemistry Technics,Combinatorial Chemistry Technique,Technic, Combinatorial Chemistry,Technics, Combinatorial Chemistry,Technique, Combinatorial Chemistry