Aug-MIA-QSPR modeling of the soil sorption of carboxylic acid herbicides

Thermodynamics-Based Model Construction for the Accurate Prediction of Molecular Properties From Partition Coefficients

Developing models for predicting molecular properties of organic compounds is imperative for drug development and environmental safety; however, development of such models that have high predictive power and are independent of the compounds used is challenging. To overcome the challenges, we used a thermodynamics-based theoretical derivation to construct models for accurately predicting molecular properties. The free energy change that determines a property equals the sum of the free energy changes (ΔG_Fs) caused by the factors affecting the property. By developing or selecting molecular descriptors that are directly proportional to ΔG_Fs, we built a general linear free energy relationship (LFER) for predicting the property with the molecular descriptors as predictive variables. The LFER can be used to construct models for predicting various specific properties from partition coefficients. Validations show that the models constructed according to the LFER have high predictive power and their performance is independent of the compounds used, including the models for the properties having little correlation with partition coefficients. The findings in this study are highly useful for applications in drug development and environmental safety.

Prediction of Soil Adsorption Coefficient in Pesticides Using Physicochemical Properties and Molecular Descriptors by Machine Learning Models

The soil adsorption coefficient (K_OC ) plays an important role in environmental risk assessment of pesticide registration. Based on this risk assessment, applied and registered pesticides can be allowed in the European Union. Almost 1 yr is required to study and obtain the K_OC value of a pesticide. Furthermore, acquiring the K_OC requires a large cost. It is necessary to efficiently estimate the K_OC value in the early stages of pesticide development. In the present study, the experimental values of physicochemical properties and molecular descriptors of chemical structures were collected to develop a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model, and the prediction performance of the model was evaluated. More specifically, we compared the accuracies of models based on a gradient boosting decision tree, multiple linear regression, and support vector machine. The experimental results suggest that it is possible to develop a QSPR model with high accuracy using both the molecular descriptors calculated from the structural formula and experimental values of physicochemical properties from open literature and databases. Comparing to the previously established models, we achieved high prediction accuracy, fitness, and robustness by only using freeware. Therefore, our developed QSPR models can be useful preliminary risk assessment in the early developmental stages of pesticides. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:1451-1459. © 2020 SETAC.

Considerations of nano-QSAR/QSPR models for nanopesticide risk assessment within the European legislative framework

The European market for pesticides is currently legislated through the well-developed Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009. This regulation promotes the competitiveness of European agriculture, recognizing the necessity of safe pesticides for human and animal health and the environment to protect crops against pests, diseases and weeds. In this sense, nanotechnology can provide a tremendous opportunity to achieve a more rational use of pesticides. However, the lack of information regarding nanopesticides and their fate and behavior in the environment and their effects on human and animal health is inhibiting rapid nanopesticide incorporation into European Union agriculture. This review analyzes the recent state of knowledge on nanopesticide risk assessment, highlighting the challenges that need to be overcame to accelerate the arrival of these new tools for plant protection to European agricultural professionals. Novel nano-Quantitative Structure-Activity/Structure-Property Relationship (nano-QSAR/QSPR) tools for risk assessment are analyzed, including modeling methods and validation procedures towards the potential of these computational instruments to meet the current requirements for authorization of nanoformulations. Future trends on these issues, of pressing importance within the context of the current European pesticide legislative framework, are also discussed. Standard protocols to make high-quality and well-described datasets for the series of related but differently sized nanoparticles/nanopesticides are required.

Quantitative modeling of bioconcentration factors of carbonyl herbicides using multivariate image analysis

The bioconcentration factor (BCF) is an important parameter used to estimate the propensity of chemicals to accumulate in aquatic organisms from the ambient environment. While simple regressions for estimating the BCF of chemical compounds from water solubility or the n-octanol/water partition coefficient have been proposed in the literature, these models do not always yield good correlations and more descriptive variables are required for better modeling of BCF data for a given series of organic pollutants, such as some herbicides. Thus, the logBCF values for a set of carbonyl herbicides comprising amide, urea, carbamate and thiocarbamate groups were quantitatively modeled using multivariate image analysis (MIA) descriptors, derived from colored image representations for chemical structures. The logBCF model was calibrated and vigorously validated (r(2) = 0.79, q(2) = 0.70 and rtest(2) = 0.81), providing a comprehensive three-parameter linear equation after variable selection (logBCF = 5.682 - 0.00233 × X9774 - 0.00070 × X813 - 0.00273 × X5144); the variables represent pixel coordinates in the multivariate image. Finally, chemical interpretation of the obtained models in terms of the structural characteristics responsible for the enhanced or reduced logBCF values was performed, providing key leads in the prospective development of more eco-friendly synthetic herbicides.