Compoundrelated

Compoundrelated is a term used in cheminformatics to describe a quantified measure of relatedness between chemical compounds. It can refer to a general notion of similarity or to a specific composite score that integrates multiple similarity dimensions, including structural similarity, substructure overlap, physicochemical properties, and, when available, biological activity profiles. The term is used in drug discovery and related fields to support tasks such as clustering, library design, and hit expansion.

Calculation approaches vary. A common method combines fingerprint-based similarity (for example Tanimoto similarity on ECFP4 fingerprints) with additional components such as scaffold similarity, 3D shape alignment, and activity concordance. These components are often weighted and combined to produce a score between 0 and 1, where higher scores indicate closer relatedness.

Applications include prioritizing compounds for synthesis, identifying redundant series in a library, and guiding exploration of chemical space. In data visualization, compoundrelated scores help users map relationships among thousands of compounds and efficiently navigate opportunities for diversification.

Limitations include dependence on the choice of fingerprints, data quality for activity profiles, and the context of use; a high compoundrelated score does not guarantee similar pharmacology or safety. The term is not yet universally standardized and may be defined differently in different software packages or studies.

See also: chemical similarity, molecular fingerprint, QSAR, scaffold analysis.