The Average Wiener Index of Trees and Chemical Trees

Characterization of DNA primary sequences based on the average distances between bases

We outline numerical characterization of DNA primary sequence based on calculation of the average distance between pairs of nucleic acid bases. This leads to a representation of DNA by a condensed 4 x 4 symmetrical matrix, the elements of which give the average separation between pair of bases X, Y in DNA (X, Y = A, C, G, T). As an invariant of choice we consider the leading eigenvalue of the derived 4 x 4 matrix. Additional structurally related invariants were obtained by constructing additional "higher order" 4 x 4 matrices derived from the initial 4 x 4 matrix by raising its elements to higher powers. Suitably normalized leading eigenvalue of these matrices offer a novel characterization of DNA primary sequences, referred to as "DNA profiles". The approach is illustrated on exon 1 of human beta-globin gene.

Quantitative structure-property relationships generated with optimizable even/odd Wiener polynomial descriptors

Chemical structures of organic compounds are characterized numerically by a variety of structural descriptors, one of the earliest and most widely used being the Wiener index W, derived from the interatomic distances in a molecular graph. Extensive use of distance-based structural descriptors or topological indices has been made in QSPR and QSAR models, drug design, toxicology, virtual screening of combinatorial libraries, similarity and diversity assessment. Novel topological indices are introduced representing a partitioning of the Wiener polynomial based on counts of even and odd molecular graph distances. During the QSAR/QSPR modeling process the variables of the even and odd power functions are optimized in order to offer an improved mapping of the investigated property. These novel topological indices are tested in QSPR models for the boiling temperature, molar heat capacity, standard Gibbs energy of formation, vaporization enthalpy, refractive index, and density of alkanes. In many cases, the even/odd Wiener polynomial indices proposed here give notably improved correlations or suggest simpler QSPR models.

Mean Wiener numbers and other mean extensions for alkane trees

The "Wiener number" (the sum over intersite graph distances of a structure) as averaged over all alkane structural isomers of a fixed number N of carbon atoms is considered. This and several other measures of average graphical "extension" of N-site alkanes are computed for N up to 90 (where there are over 10(35) such isomers). Fits are then made for several surmised or derived asymptotic forms, and a heuristic argument is made relating these results to geometric extensions of a random mix of (N-site) alkanes.