Graphs to chemical structures 5. Combinatorial enumeration of centroidal and bicentroidal three-dimensional trees as stereochemical models of alkanes

Three-dimensional trees (3D-trees), which are defined as a 3D version of trees, are enumerated by Fujita’s proligand method formulated in Part 1 to Part 3 of this series (Fujita in Theor Chem Acc 113:73–79, 113:80–86, 2005; 115:37–53, 2006). Such 3D-trees are classified into centroidal and bicentroidal 3D-trees, which correspond to respective promolecules having proligands as substituents. In order to enumerate such centroidal and bicentroidal 3D-trees, cycle indices with chirality fittingness (CI-CFs) are formulated as being composed of three kinds of sphericity indices, i.e., a _d for homospheric cycles, c _d for enantiospheric cycles, and b _d for hemispheric cycles. The CI–CFs are capable of giving itemized results with respect to chiral and achiral 3D-trees so that they are applied to derive functional equations (a(x), c(x ²), and b(x)). The generating functions of planted 3D-trees, which are formulated and calculated elsewhere, are introduced into such functional equations. Thereby, the numbers of 3D-trees or equivalently those of alkanes as stereoisomers are calculated and collected up to a carbon content of 20 in a tabular form. Now, the enumeration problem initiated by a mathematician Cayley (Philos Mag 47(4):444–446, 1874) has been solved in such a systematic and integrated manner as satisfying both mathematical and chemical requirements.     

Graphs to chemical structures 3. General theorems with the use of different sets of sphericity indices for combinatorial enumeration of nonrigid stereoisomers

The extended sphericity indices of k-cycles, which were defined in Part 2 of this series (S. Fujita, Theor Chem Acc, Online: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s00214-004-0606-z) according to the enantiospheric, homospheric, or hemispheric nature of each k-cycle, are further extended to prove more general theorems for enumerating nonrigid stereoisomers with rotatable ligands. One of the extended points is the use of different sets of sphericity indices to treat one or more orbits contained in skeletons and ligands. Another is to take account of chirality in proligands and sub-proligands, the latter of which are introduced to consider further inner structures of ligands. Two theorems for enumerating nonrigid stereoisomers are proved by adopting two schemes of their derivation, i.e., the scheme ``positions of a skeleton ⇐ proligands ⇐ ligands (positions of a ligand ⇐ sub-proligands)' and the scheme ``(positions of a skeleton ⇐ proligands ⇐ ligands (positions of a ligand)) ⇐ sub-proligands'. The theorems are applied to the stereoisomerism of trihydroxyglutaric acids. Thereby, it is demonstrated where Pólya's theorem and other previous methods are deficient, when applied to the enumeration of stereoisomers.     

Combinatorial enumeration of ethane derivatives as three-dimensional chemical structures,not as graphs. A systematic approach for enumerating and characterizing stereoisomers of tartaric acids and related compounds

Fujita’s proligand method is applied to the enumeration of ethane derivatives, where the counting of stereoisomers of tartaric acids is examined in detail as a probe for testing the versatility of the method. The cycle index with chirality fittingness (CI-CF) for enumerating ethane derivatives is obtained by Fujita’s proligand method and compared with the CI-CF derived alternatively by the direct calculation of permutations of substitution positions. The two CI-CFs are identical with each other so that the methodology underlying in Fujita’s method is demonstrated in a concrete fashion. The enumeration results are compared with those derived by Pólya’s corona. Fujita’s proligand method is shown to be capable of enumerating stereoisomers, whereas Pólya’s corona is concluded to enumerate graphs, but not stereoisomers. The conceptually change from graphs to three-dimensional (3D) chemical structures is discussed, where the superiority of Fujita’s proligand method is demonstrated.