QSAR, molecular docking, and design of novel 4-(N,N-diarylmethyl amines) Furan-2(5H)-one derivatives as insecticides against Aphis craccivora

Abstract

A computational study was carried out on a series of twenty compounds of novel 4-(N,N-diarylmethylamines) furan-2(5H)-one derivatives against Aphis craccivora insect. Optimization of the compounds was performed with the aid of Spartan 14 software using DFT/B3LYP/6-31G** quantum mechanical method. Using PaDel descriptor software to calculate the descriptors, Generic Function Approximation (GFA) was employed to generate the model. Model 1 found to be the optimal out of four models generated which has the following statistical parameters; R2 = 0.871489, R2adj = 0.83644, cross-validated R2 = 0.790821, and external R2 = 0.550768. Molecular docking study occurred between the compounds and the complex crystal structure of the acetylcholine (protein AChBP) (PDB CODE 2zju) in which compound 13 was identified to have the highest binding energy of − 8.4 kcalmol−1. Statistical analyses, such as variance inflation factor, mean effect, and the applicability domain, were conducted on the model.