Prediction of Carbonate Selectivity of PVC-Plasticized Sensor Membranes with Newly Synthesized Ionophores through QSPR Modeling

Abstract

Developing a potentiometric sensor with required target properties is a challenging task. This work explores the potential of quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) modeling in the prediction of potentiometric selectivity for plasticized polymeric membrane sensors based on newly synthesized ligands. As a case study, we have addressed sensors with selectivity towards carbonate—an important topic for environmental and biomedical studies. Using the logKsel(HCO3−/Cl−) selectivity data on 40 ionophores available in literature and their substructural molecular fragments as descriptors, we have constructed a QSPR model, which has demonstrated reasonable precision in predicting selectivities for newly synthesized ligands sharing similar molecular fragments with those employed for modeling.