Common pharmaceutical reactions were modeled using the
commercially
available CHETAH program and the novel TCIT program to obtain heats
of reaction values. The programs were used to predict thermochemical
data for isolated molecules based on their functional groups. Both
programs use group theory, CHETAH, commercially available through
ASTM and TCIT using a more modern approach and under development at
Purdue. Reactions such as amide coupling (via both uronium reagent
and T3P), debenzylation, bromination, tert-butyloxycarbonyl
deprotection, Suzuki couplings, and halogenation were analyzed. These
values were then compared to experimental values to assess the accuracy
of each program’s predictions. Experimental values were provided
by several pharmaceutical companies, who participated and advised
in this endeavor, as listed in Acknowledgements. Deviations were on
average within ±20% of experimental values for both programs,
but outlier behavior with respect to certain functional groups was
distinct. CHETAH calculations were at times hampered by missing groups,
which was not the case for TCIT, which is designed to be arbitrarily
extensible. This project resulted in a broader molecular library for
TCIT, exposure of shortcomings in CHETAH, and strategies to improve
accuracy moving forward.