A QSAR study on renin inhibitors.

Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) were studied in a series of chain-modified peptide analogues of the active site of angiotensinogen. The activity of these renin inhibitors was found to be significantly correlated with Kier's first-order valence molecular connectivity index (1 chi v) and with the molecular weight (MW) of the molecules. The activity was less well correlated with the van der Waals volume (Vw), and not at all with the hydrophobic character (log P) of the molecules. These findings suggest that there is a strong dispersion interaction between the inhibitor molecules and the enzyme, and that hydrophobicity plays little part in the interaction.