Chemistry

he concept of in silico molecular design goes back decades and has a long history of published approaches using many different algorithms and models. Major challenges involved in de novo molecular design are manifold, including identifying appropriate molecular representations for optimisation, scoring designed molecules against multiple modelled endpoints, and objectively quantifying synthetic feasibility of the designed structures. Recently, multiobjective de novo design, more recently referred to as generative chemistry, has had a resurgence of interest. This renaissance has highlighted a step-change in successful applications of such methods. This presentation will review the development of de novo design methods over the years including the author’s original work in this area from the early 2000s, to recent approaches that show great promise. Through this review, improvements in important components of de novo design, including machine learning model predictions and automated synthesis planning, will also be presented.